Brucellosis serology in HIV-infected patients

Background: An accelerated evolution of HIV to AIDS has been reported with brucellosis co-infection. The seroprevalence of brucellosis co-infection with HIV has not been investigated in a brucellosis endemic country like Iran. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey of brucellosis serology in HIV-infected patients attending a university hospital, as well as in healthy controls. A total of 90 HIV-positive patients and 100 healthy age-matched controls were recruited. The clinical characteristics, hemoglobin, and red blood cell, platelet, white blood cell, and CD4+ T cell counts were evaluated. Results: Positive brucellosis serology was significantly higher in HIV-infected patients than in controls (73.3% vs. 30%, respectively, odds ratio 6.42, p< 0.001). It was also higher in males than females, p= 0.001. Brucellosis-infected patients had significantly lower hemoglobin and white blood cell counts compared with brucellosis-uninfected patients (p< 0.001). In HIV-positive patients, white blood cell count was significantly lower in brucellosis-infected than brucellosis-uninfected patients (p< 0.05). Conclusions: Our findings show that brucellosis infection is an important infection in HIV-infected patients. The treatment of brucellosis may be of great clinical importance in the management of HIV infection in a brucellosis endemic country like Iran.