Brucellosis in Egyptian female patients.

Over six months, 129 consecutive brucellosis cases were diagnosed in females attending the outpatients' clinics the females in Al-Azhar and Ain Shams Universities Hospitals. Their ages ranged between 12-65 years old. 113 (87.6%) gave history of raw milk consumption, 13 (10%) gave history of home slaughtering of sheep, 2 (1.5%) gave history of animal contact, and one patient gave history of abortion, that partner had brucellosis. A total of 61.2% of patients gave serum agglutination test of 1: 640, who suffered acute or subacute infection. Titers of 1:320 (38.8%) were found in the majority of chronic cases. Causes of endemic parasitosis were excluded. Symptoms were fever (79.5%), headache (72.4%), generalized arthralgia (65.3%), sweating (65.3%), chills (63.8%), backache (34.6%), abdominal pain (27.5%), loss of appetite (25.5%), lassitude (17.2%), myalgia (14.2%), monoarthralgia (7.9%). Spinal involvement was in 15% patients, who had chronic brucellosis. 32/35 were successfully treated with a combination of streptomycin and tetracycline, 17/21 with streptomycin and septrin, 38/43 with tetracycline and septrin, and 26/26 (100%) with rifampicin and tetracycline or septrin, which treated all resistant patients.