The clinical and laboratory characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of patients with Brucella epididymo-orchitis (BEO) compared to those without BEO.

BACKGROUND/AIM: We aim to describe the clinical and laboratory characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of 21 patients with Brucella epididymo-orchitis (BEO) from Eskişehir Yunus Emre State Hospital, Turkey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 21 patients with BEO who were diagnosed and followed in the Infectious Diseases Clinic between June 2001 and June 2013 were evaluated retrospectively.

RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-eight of 192 patients evaluated throughout the study were male and BEO was determined in 21 (16.4%) patients. A total of 18 (85.7%) patients had a titer of b1:160 in standard agglutination test (STA). Three patients with STA `160 were diagnosed by blood culture. When all the male patients were evaluated in terms of demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings, animal contact, rural living, and subacute clinical type were statistically significantly higher in the group that developed epididymo-orchitis. None of the patients underwent surgery after medical treatment, but due to a delay in diagnosis of brucellosis, orchiectomy was performed in 1 patient with the suspicion of tumor.

CONCLUSION: In endemic countries like Turkey, BEO should be considered in the differential diagnosis of epididymo-orchitis. In uncomplicated patients, medical treatment is adequate for BEO.