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Symptoms of brucellosis
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
The incubation period of brucellosis is from 7 to 40 days, in vaccinated people it can be extended to 2 months. In children, the disease often begins acutely with a rise in body temperature. Patients complain of headache, weakness, increased fatigue, pain in the joints and muscles, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, and possible chills alternating with sweating. In cases with a gradual onset, the disease manifests itself as malaise, weakness, increased fatigue, mild headache and loss of appetite. After 5-7 days, the leading symptom of brucellosis appears - fever. It can be constant, remittent, undulating or subfebrile. In children, a prolonged subfebrile temperature is more common.
Brucellosis is characterized by increased sweating, enlarged lymph nodes (cervical, inguinal), liver and spleen.
Typical are arthralgia (most often affecting large joints of the lower extremities) and inflammatory changes in connective tissue such as cellulitis and fibrositis (painful infiltrates or strands in the subcutaneous tissue, in the muscles, around the joints, in the internal organs).
Less frequently, various rashes appear: roseola, scarlet fever-like, hemorrhagic, urticarial, etc. The skin is usually pale. In the blood, hypochromic anemia, reticulocytosis, increased ESR, a pronounced 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, joint fluid, bone marrow punctures, lymph nodes are sown on elective media; it is even easier to detect the brucellosis antigen in PCR. Serological studies retain a certain importance: Wright's agglutination reaction with a killed Brucella culture (according to the Widal reaction type), RSK, RPGA, etc. A titer of agglutinins in the serum being tested of 1:200 or higher is considered diagnostic.
For rapid diagnostics of brucellosis, the Heddleson agglutination reaction is used. The reaction is carried out on a glass slide with various dilutions of the serum being tested. A killed brucellosis culture stained with methylene blue is used as an antigen. The results are determined within the first 8 minutes. The immunofluorescence method is also used as an express diagnostic, allowing for the rapid detection of brucellae in the material being tested.
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