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Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study

INTRODUCTION: Brucella spp. are rarely encountered organisms in the medical microbiology laboratory and, when encountered, can cause concern in laboratory workers. Laboratory personnel may in fact develop serious disease as a result of this exposure. This case highlights shortcomings in recognition...

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Autores principales: Skosana, Lebogang, Ismail, Farzana, Mbelle, Nontombi, Said, Mohamed
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AOSIS 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7564992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33102168
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v9i1.1114
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author Skosana, Lebogang
Ismail, Farzana
Mbelle, Nontombi
Said, Mohamed
author_facet Skosana, Lebogang
Ismail, Farzana
Mbelle, Nontombi
Said, Mohamed
author_sort Skosana, Lebogang
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Brucella spp. are rarely encountered organisms in the medical microbiology laboratory and, when encountered, can cause concern in laboratory workers. Laboratory personnel may in fact develop serious disease as a result of this exposure. This case highlights shortcomings in recognition of Brucella spp. from a patient presenting atypically as well as the follow-up and management of an infected patient. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was an 8-year-old boy from a rural area of South Africa who presented to an academic hospital with a bladder mass and history of enuresis in September 2016. Brucella melitensis was isolated from a blood culture submitted to the laboratory. The child was subsequently treated for brucellosis in November 2016. MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOME: The source of infection in the patient was traced to consumption of unpasteurised milk from a local farmer. The patient was treated with doxycycline 100 mg twice daily and rifampicin 600 mg daily for 6 weeks and completed treatment, however he was not followed up at our hospital. The laboratory personnel, however, did not handle the specimen as a Biosafety Level 3 pathogen as this organism is not commonly encountered; they were provided with prophylaxis for brucellosis (rifampicin and doxycycline). CONCLUSION: Brucella spp. is a dangerous pathogen, easily capable of causing significant exposure in an unsuspecting and unprepared laboratory. The case discusses the management of brucellosis in the infected patient as well as the management of laboratory exposure to Brucella spp. Our case also describes the public health response to a case of brucellosis.
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spelling pubmed-75649922020-10-22 Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study Skosana, Lebogang Ismail, Farzana Mbelle, Nontombi Said, Mohamed Afr J Lab Med Case Study INTRODUCTION: Brucella spp. are rarely encountered organisms in the medical microbiology laboratory and, when encountered, can cause concern in laboratory workers. Laboratory personnel may in fact develop serious disease as a result of this exposure. This case highlights shortcomings in recognition of Brucella spp. from a patient presenting atypically as well as the follow-up and management of an infected patient. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient was an 8-year-old boy from a rural area of South Africa who presented to an academic hospital with a bladder mass and history of enuresis in September 2016. Brucella melitensis was isolated from a blood culture submitted to the laboratory. The child was subsequently treated for brucellosis in November 2016. MANAGEMENT AND OUTCOME: The source of infection in the patient was traced to consumption of unpasteurised milk from a local farmer. The patient was treated with doxycycline 100 mg twice daily and rifampicin 600 mg daily for 6 weeks and completed treatment, however he was not followed up at our hospital. The laboratory personnel, however, did not handle the specimen as a Biosafety Level 3 pathogen as this organism is not commonly encountered; they were provided with prophylaxis for brucellosis (rifampicin and doxycycline). CONCLUSION: Brucella spp. is a dangerous pathogen, easily capable of causing significant exposure in an unsuspecting and unprepared laboratory. The case discusses the management of brucellosis in the infected patient as well as the management of laboratory exposure to Brucella spp. Our case also describes the public health response to a case of brucellosis. AOSIS 2020-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC7564992/ /pubmed/33102168 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v9i1.1114 Text en © 2020. The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
spellingShingle Case Study
Skosana, Lebogang
Ismail, Farzana
Mbelle, Nontombi
Said, Mohamed
Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study
title Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study
title_full Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study
title_fullStr Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study
title_full_unstemmed Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study
title_short Brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: A case study
title_sort brucellosis – laboratory workers’ nightmare come true: a case study
topic Case Study
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7564992/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33102168
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v9i1.1114
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