Pleural fluid characteristics in pulmonary brucellosis.

Although pulmonary symptoms accompany up to 16% of cases of infection with Brucella melitensis, pleural effusion has rarely been reported. A 12 year old girl had brucellosis with pulmonary disease and a pleural effusion. The pleural fluid was clear and straw coloured with 2700 leucocytes/mm3 (93% lymphocytes), a protein level of 48 g/1, and a glucose concentration of 4.1 mmol/l. Culture of the pleural fluid grew Br melitensis.