Hematological findings in children with brucellosis.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis produces a variety of non-specific hematological abnormalities. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the hematological findings in childhood brucellosis.

METHODS: Medical records of children with brucellosis admitted to a tertiary hospital in a 1 year period, were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTS: Sixty-nine patients (mean age, 14.5 ± 3.3 years) were diagnosed with brucellosis. The most common hematological finding was thrombocytopenia (n = 11, 15.9%). Thrombocytosis was detected in five patients (7.3%), leukopenia in four (5.8%), anemia in three (4.3%), and bicytopenia in three (4.3%). None of the patients had pancytopenia. Blood culture was positive for Brucella spp. in 41 patients (59.4%). Among those patients with positive blood culture, six (14.6%) had serum agglutination test titer ≤1/80. Platelet (PLT) count was significantly lower in the bacteremia-positive group. The OR (95%CI) of bacteremia for PLT cut-off 200,000/mm(3) was 0.148 (95%CI: 0.031-0.718) and relative risk was 1.718 (95%CI: 1.244-2.372; P = 0.010).

CONCLUSIONS: Brucellosis should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of isolated thrombocytopenia in pediatric patients from endemic areas.