Psychosomatic and somato-psychic aspects of brucellosis

Molecular Detection of Brucella spp. DNA in Patients with Manifestations Compatible with Emotional Disorders

“…This hypothesis appears to be in accordance with a prospective study of 400 brucellosis patients done in Kuwait and where 6% of the patients developed psychiatric complications (with depression and anxiety accounting for 5.5%) predominantly in the chronic stage of the disease [9]. A number of other studies have associated emotional disorders with the chronic form of brucellosis [23,19,12,22], but, due to the limitations of the conventional diagnostic methods used, a definite diagnosis of brucellosis could not be established. Using a highly sensitive and specific Brucella PCR assay recently evaluated for the diagnosis of chronic and focal forms of the disease [33], we did not detect statistically significant differences between individuals with positive brucellosis history (relapsing or none relapsing) and those with negative history.…”

“…The mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of the emotional complications of brucellosis, although not fully elucidated yet, include a hypersensitivity reaction to Brucella antigens, necrosis of neurons, chronic vasculitis, multiple non caseating granulomas and calcification of the basal ganglia [11,[14][15][16][17]. The burden of chronic complaints in patients with chronic brucellosis might also contribute to the appearance of neuropsychiatric symptoms [18,19]. Finally, brucellosis might trigger [20] or exacerbate [21] neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with neurasthenic tendencies.…”

“…There have been some old studies regarding the emotional disturbances in brucellosis, especially in its chronic form [9,12,13,19,20,[22][23][24][25]. Most of these studies examined individuals who were being hospitalized with confirmed or suspected brucellosis and not individuals from the general population without suspicion of the disease.…”

Neurobrucellosis Presenting as Acute Psychosis

“…The reported psychiatric manifestations usually seen in brucella meningitis include depression, amnesia, agitation, personality changes, euphoria, and psychosis among which depression is the most common. [4] Delirium may also occur in acute brucellosis. Our patient had psychosis of only 2-day duration that was controlled with a good dose of antipsychotic.…”

Psycho-social Impacts of Bioterrorism and Stress in the Wake of 9/11

“…Q-fever has been associated with a post-infection fatigue syndrome, both in England and in Australia (Marmion et al, 1996;Ayres et al, 1998). Brucellosis has also been associated with chronic fatigue (Harris and Kemple, 1954;Imboden et al, 1959;Alapin, 1976). It is unknown whether these cases of chronic brucellosis are due to subclinical infection, localized infection, or are psychophysiologic.…”