Brucellosis serology in HIV-infected patients.
BACKGROUND
An accelerated evolution of HIV to AIDS has been reported with brucellosis co-infection. The seroprevalence of brucellosis co-infection with HIV has not been investigated in a brucellosis endemic country like Iran.


METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional survey of brucellosis serology in HIV-infected patients attending a university hospital, as well as in healthy controls. A total of 90 HIV-positive patients and 100 healthy age-matched controls were recruited. The clinical characteristics, hemoglobin, and red blood cell, platelet, white blood cell, and CD4+ T cell counts were evaluated.


RESULTS
Positive brucellosis serology was significantly higher in HIV-infected patients than in controls (73.3% vs. 30%, respectively, odds ratio 6.42, p<0.001). It was also higher in males than females, p=0.001. Brucellosis-infected patients had significantly lower hemoglobin and white blood cell counts compared with brucellosis-uninfected patients (p<0.001). In HIV-positive patients, white blood cell count was significantly lower in brucellosis-infected than brucellosis-uninfected patients (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that brucellosis infection is an important infection in HIV-infected patients. The treatment of brucellosis may be of great clinical importance in the management of HIV infection in a brucellosis endemic country like Iran.
Abdollahi
Alireza
A
Division of Pathology, Imam Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. dr_p_abdollahi@yahoo.com
Morteza
Afsaneh
A
Khalilzadeh
Omid
O
Rasoulinejad
Mehrnaz
M
D000328:Adult; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies