Osteoarticular involvement of brucellosis in pediatric patients: clinical and laboratory characteristics

Background and objectives. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of osteoarticular involvement in children with brucellosis. Methods. A total of 202 pediatric brucellosis patients were evaluated from April 2012 to August 2013. Results. Among the 202 patients, 53 (26.2%) had osteoarticular involvement. In patients with osteoarticular involvement, the mean values of estimated sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (C-RP) were significantly higher than in patients without osteoarticular involvement (p = 0.001, p = 0.01, respectively). The majority of patients with osteoarticular involvement (n = 48, 90.6%) had a higher standard tube agglutination (STA) test titer (>= 1/640) than patients without osteoarticular involvement (n = 69, 46.3%) (p = 0.001). The most commonly found osteoarticular involvement was peripheral arthritis. The second most commonly found osteoarticular involvement was sacroiliitis (n = 5, 9.4%). Three patients (5.7%) had spondylitis. Only one patient (1.9%) had osteomyelitis. Conclusions. Osteoarticular involvement was detected in nearly one of every four childhood brucellosis patients in our study. Brucellosis should be considered as a pre-diagnosis in children with osteoarticular complaints, especially in regions where the disease is endemic.