Objectives: Present clinical features of brucellosis in Lebanon.
Methods: Eighty-eight patients were seen at Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital of Beirut between 1994 and 2002. Diagnostic criteria were brucellar agglutinins at a titer; 1/160 with symptoms suggestive of brucellosis in the absence of other diagnosis and a therapeutic response.
Results: Out of the 88 hospitalized patients, 11 pediatric cases are noted. The disease is acute in 58 (66%), subacute in 28 (32%) and chronic in 2. The main presenting symptoms are fever, sweating, easy fatigability and diffuse aches. Osteoarticular involvement is the most prevalent complication (28%) and spondylitis is seen in 44% of these cases. Meningoencephalitis is the most frequent neurological manifestation. Among the haematological tests, relative lymphocytosis is significantly more frequent in children than adults (73% vs 19% ; p < 0,001) and in the acute form than the subacute (36% vs 7%; p < 0,001) whereas leucocytosis is more frequent in the subacute form (21% vs 7%; p < 0,01).
Conclusion: Brucellosis is still an endemic disease in Lebanon and should be systematically evoked in the case of prolonged fever, articular and neurological manifestations.