Brucellosis in Qatar: A retrospective cohort study

We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, complications and treatment of brucellosis in the State of Qatar.

The medical records of patients in Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar were reviewed from January 2000 to December 2006. History, various socio-demographic features, clinical and biochemical parameters, therapeutic features, and complications were retrospectively collected from the patient database.

Around three quarters of the study population were males. History of raw milk consumption and animal contact were seen in 41.7% and 12.5% respectively. The main presenting features of our cohort were fever, chills and sweating (93.1%, 62.5% and 58.3% respectively). Positive antibody titre (>1:160) was detected in 95.8% and positive blood culture was reported in 63.9% of the cohort. Splenomegaly was observed in 19.4%, hepatomegaly in 15.3% and lymphadenopathy in 9.7% of the cases. Approximately half of our patients were treated with a combination of doxycycline and streptomycine and nearly one quarter received doxycycline and rifampicine combination therapy.

Brucellosis is an important public health problem worldwide. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. It may affect any organ system and can present with a variety of clinical features. Diagnosis of brucellosis requires serological tests with or without blood culture. Treatment with at least two antibiotics for six weeks or more appears to be effective.