title: Neurobrucellosis: an evaluation of a rare presentation of brucellosis from a tertiary care centre in Central Anatolia, Turkey.
abstract: Nervous system involvement is a rare manifestation of brucellosis. We describe our experience of the diagnosis, treatment and final outcome of patients with neurobrucellosis at the Erciyes University Gevher Nesibe Hospital, a tertiary referral centre in Central Anatolia, Turkey. Thirty-six adult patients were diagnosed with neurobrucellosis from January 1997 to December 2006. Headache and fever were the most common symptoms. Neck stiffness was present in 25 patients. Brucella spp was isolated from the blood of nine patients and from the cerebrospinal fluid of 11. Doxycycline (by mouth) plus rifampin (by mouth) with ceftriaxone (intravenously) were the most common treatment choices. Three patients died as a result of problems other than neurobrucellosis and relapse occurred in one patient. Neurobrucellosis presents with hetoregenous clinical signs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Erciyes University, Faculty of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hayati
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Demiraslan
authors.forename: Gokhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Metan
authors.forename: Emine Alp
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mese
authors.forename: Orhan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yildiz
authors.forename: Bilgehan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Aygen
authors.forename: Bulent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sumerkan
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doganay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult