The role of Brucella abortus in spontaneous abortion among the black population

A prospective study on brucellosis in 125 black patients presenting with inevitable or incomplete spontaneous abortion not obviously due to another cause is presented. They were all consecutive cases presenting during weekdays to Edendale Hospital, Pietermaritzburg. Brucellosis was investigated by means of the history and serological and culture studies of intra-uterine swabs. No case of acute Brucella infection was demonstrated; however, there were 5 cases in which the serological finding was consistent with chronic brucellosis (4%). In all these cases no positive evidence of close animal contact could be found; furthermore of the 12,1% of women who actually handled domestic animals, only 1 had a history of previous abortion.