title: Brucella infection in HIV infected patients.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess the possible correlation between Brucella and HIV infections. Iran is a country where HIV infection is expanding and Brucellosis is prevalent. In the present study, 184 HIV infected patients were assigned and for all of them HIV infection was confirmed by western blot test. In order to identify the prevalence rate of Brucella infection and systemic brucellosis in these subjects, sera samples were obtained and Brucella specific serological tests were performed to reveal antibody titers. Detailed history was taken and physical examination was carried out for all of patients. 11 (6%) subjects had high titers but only 3 of them were symptomatic. Most of these subjects were injection drug user (IDU) men and one was a rural woman. Considering both prevalence rates of Brucella infection (3%) and symptomatic brucellosis (0.1%) in Iran, our HIV positive patients show higher rates of Brucella infection and systemic brucellosis. Preserved cellular immunity of participants and retention of granulocytes activity may explain this poor association; whereas other explanations such as immunological state difference and non-overlapping geographical distribution of the 2 pathogens have been mentioned by various authors.
authors.affiliation: Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS (IRCHA), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahboubeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajiabdolbaghi
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rasoulinejad
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abdollahi
authors.forename: Koosha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paydary
authors.forename: Pegah
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valiollahi
authors.forename: SeyedAhmad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: SeyedAlinaghi
authors.forename: Maziar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parsa
authors.forename: Sirous
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jafari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D060085:Coinfection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence