Evaluating the validity of serum neopterin and chitotriosidase levels in follow-up brucellosis patients.
OBJECTIVE
Due to its high morbidity rates brucellosis, a systemic inflammatory disease, is still an important health problem, particularly in Mediterranean regions. One-third of the patients are characterized with musculoskeletal involvement. Principally in chronic cases, there are difficulties in the follow-up of therapy success. Radiological imaging methods are used in musculoskeletal brucellosis in addition to standard serological tests. Two macrophage products, namely neopterin (NPT) and chitotriosidase (ChT), are used as novel markers in order to reflect the status of inflammatory diseases. In this study, we aimed to test the validity of these markers in follow-up of patients with brucellosis.


METHODS
A total of 40 brucellosis cases were included in the study and 27 healthy individuals were used as controls. Twenty of the brucellosis patients were presented with sacroiliac joint involvement. A 6-week treatment of doxycycline combined with rifampicin or streptomycin was used to treat brucellosis. Clinical observations and serological outcome were used to determine whether treatment was successful or not.


RESULTS
All of the 20 brucellosis patients without musculoskeletal involvement healed with the first cure of treatment, but all of the brucella-sacroiliitis patients had to be retreated. In addition to routine testing, serum NPT and ChT levels were evaluated after each treatment. The results presented a clear fall in both NPT and ChT levels in parallel with the serological data of the patients.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, NPT as well as ChT seems to be a useful marker in the follow-up of brucellosis patients and for evaluating the success of therapy.
Coskun
Omer
O
Gulhane Military Medical Academy Infectious Disease and Clinical Microbiology Department, Ankara, Turkey. coskunomer23@hotmail.com
Oter
Sukrü
S
Yaman
Halil
H
Kilic
Selim
S
Kurt
Ismail
I
Eyigun
Can Polat
CP
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology; D004318:Doxycycline / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006596:Hexosaminidases / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D019798:Neopterin / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012293:Rifampin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D013307:Streptomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D055815:Young Adult
D015415:Biomarkers; D019798:Neopterin; D006596:Hexosaminidases; C086400:chitotriosidase; D004318:Doxycycline; D012293:Rifampin; D013307:Streptomycin