Usefulness of Blood Parameters for Preliminary Diagnosis of Brucellosis

Human brucellosis is a multisystem disease with a wide range of clinical signs which often leads to misdiagnosis and treatment delay. Early diagnosis of this disease can prevent the serious complications and mismanagements. This study aimed to evaluate the hematological parameters with predictive value for the diagnosis of brucellosis.

In this prospective case-control study which was done during 2015-2017 in Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah Province, west Iran, 100 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of brucellosis (brucellosis group) and 100 healthy individuals (control group) were studied. The hematological parameters, including hemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC) count, lymphocyte count, neutrophil count, platelet count (PLTs), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) of both groups were recorded. The data were statistically compared between the brucellosis and the control groups.

The mean age of patients and healthy groups was 44.04 ± 23.11 and 37.92 ± 24.80, respectively (P = 0.062). The WBC, CRP and neutrophil counts were significantly higher in the brucellosis group (P < 0.05). Based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the sensitivity and specificity were 54% and 66% for the WBC, 45% and 71% for the neutrophil and 65% and 72% for the CRP, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of Hb, RBC, WBC, lymphocyte and platelet count, MPV, PDW and ESR (P > 0.05).

The results of this study indicate that WBC, CRP and neutrophil count can be used as valuable markers in the preliminary diagnosis of brucellosis. However, further researches are required to standardize these parameters for various forms of brucellosis.