Biochemical and hematological markers as brucellosis indicators in the Najran region of Saudi Arabia

Background: Human brucellosis is the most common zoonotic disease in the world. It is common infectious disease in Najran region, south western of Saudi Arabia. Several studies emphasized on the role of biochemical and hematological markers in clinical diagnosis of brucellosis, however to the best of our knowledge this is the first study that has been carried out in Najran city. Aim: This study aimed to assess the utility of peripheral blood biochemical and hematological in early diagnosis of brucellosis in infected patients. As well as, determine the contributing value of biochemical and hematological markers in differential diagnosis of brucellosis. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study (October 2019 to May 2020) had been carried out. The study was designed to compare between two groups (100 each), control group (healthy) and patient group (brucellosis). We considered here the liver function Test (Alanine aminotransferase, Aspartate aminotransferase, and Alkaline phosphatase), the Renal Function Test (Urea, Creatinine and Albumin) and the Full Blood Count. Both brucellosis and healthy groups compared together using different settings of statistical analysis. Results: Significant variations in hematology and biochemistry parameters were observed in patients infected with brucellosis. There was a significantly increased in Alanine aminotransferase and Monocytes level compared to healthy group while other indices of Albumin, Eosinophils, Platelet distribution width, and Mean platelet volume were significantly decreased compared to healthy group. Furthermore, demographically age factor was not significantly differed in both groups. However, there was priority for gender while, males were most vulnerable. Conclusion: Brucella infection may be associated with monocytosis, eosinopenia, thrombocytopenia and low level of albumin and elevated level of alanine aminotransferase. The study emphasized the importance of Biochemical and hematological parameters as simple, feasible and rapid tests as well as they are very indicative particularly in differential diagnosis. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).