Infect Chemother.  2003 Dec;35(6):461-466.

The First Case of Human Brucellosis in Korea

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Health, Korea. pmansuk@nih.go.kr
  • 2Department of Internal Medicine, Kumchon Medical Center, Paju, Kyungkido, Korea.
  • 3Department of Internal Medicine, Dong-A University of Medicine, Busan, Korea.

Abstract

Brucellosis is usually transmitted to human by direct contact with infected animals or by ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products. Because of the wide spectrum of its clinical manifestations, brucellosis may appear as other infections and asymptomatic conditions and, therefore, the diagnosis of the disease is frequently missed or delayed. A 41-years-old livestock worker was attended at a local clinic with headache, undulating fever, fatigue, weight loss presentations but the symptoms were not improved in spite of symptomatic therapy of the disease for 6 weeks. Epidemiological background showed that the patient had often ingested unpasteurized cow milk. We confirmed Brucella abortus infection by STA, ELISA and PCR methods. Symptomatic therapy of the disease with appropriate antibiotics (streptomycin, doxicyclin), had favourable outcome. It's the first case report of human brucellosis caused by direct contact of brucella infected milk cow or ingestion of raw milk in Korea, since its original identification in 1939.

Keyword

Brucellosis; Epidemiological background; Brucella abortus; Direct contact; Unpasteurized milk

MeSH Terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Asymptomatic Diseases
Brucella
Brucella abortus
Brucellosis*
Dairy Products
Diagnosis
Eating
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Fatigue
Fever
Headache
Humans*
Korea*
Livestock
Milk
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Weight Loss
Anti-Bacterial Agents
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