Brucellosis Seroconversion in Depressed Patients

Abstract

Brucellosis is a multi-organ disease with a variety of symptoms, including neurological disorders and depression manifest. Due to the relatively high prevalence of this disease in Iran, the present study was performed to evaluate the serology of Brucella in patients with depression. Methods: 100 patients with depression (case group) and 100 patients without depression (control group) were selected and included in the study. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was used to assess the severity of their depression. Brucella serology (wright test and coombs wright test) was examined in all subjects using a standard tube. Results: The positive rate of wright test was 14% in the case group and 3% in the control group and the positive rate of coombs wright test in the case group was 22% and in the control group was 3% (P = 0.001). In the case group, the mean score of Hamilton test in patients who tested positive for wright was 31 47 4.47 and in patients who tested negative for wright was 11.58 61 3.61 (P = 0.001). Coombs wright was positive, 26.18 7 7.56 and in patients with coombs wright negative was 10.94. 3.07 (P = 0.001).