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Brucellosis symptoms
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The incubation period of brucellosis is from 7 to 40 days, for vaccinated can extend to 2 months. Disease in children often begins sharply with an increase in body temperature. Patients complain of headache, weakness, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, decreased appetite, sleep disturbance, chills alternating with sweats. In cases with a gradual onset, the disease manifests itself as malaise, weakness, increased fatigue, mild headache and decreased appetite. After 5-7 days, there is a leading sign of brucellosis - fever. It can be permanent, remitting, wavy or subfebrile. Children often have a long subfebrile temperature.
Brucellosis is characterized by increased sweating, an increase in lymph nodes (cervical, inguinal), liver and spleen.
Typical arthralgia (more often affected by large joints of the lower extremities) and inflammatory changes in connective tissue like cellulite and fibrositis (painful infiltrates or strands in the subcutaneous tissue, in the muscles, around the joints, in the internal organs).
Less often, there are various eruptions: rosaolous, scarlet-like, hemorrhagic, urticaria, etc. Skin covers are usually pale. In the blood, hypochromic anemia, reticulocyte, increased ESR, marked tendency to thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, eosinopenia, as well as lymphocytosis and monocytopenia are noted.
To confirm the diagnosis, it is necessary to isolate the pathogen from the patient. For this purpose, blood, urine, sputum, pus, articular fluid, bone marrow punctate, lymph nodes to elective media are sown; it is even easier to detect brucellosis antigen in PCR. A certain value is maintained by serological studies: the Wright agglutination reaction with the killed Brucella culture (according to the type of Vidal's reaction), RSK, RPGA, etc. The agglutinin titer in the serum 1: 200 and above is considered diagnostic.
For the accelerated diagnosis of brucellosis, the Höddleson agglutination reaction is used. The reaction is placed on a slide with various dilutions of the test serum. As the antigen, the killed brucellosis culture, tinted with methylene blue, is used. The results are determined within the first 8 minutes. As an express diagnostic, the immunofluorescence method is also used, which makes it possible to quickly identify brucella in the test material.
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