Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffSymptoms of brucellosis may show up anytime from a few days to a few months after you're infected with brucella, the bacteria that cause brucellosis. Signs and symptoms are similar to those of the flu and include:
- Fever, often rising to 104 F (40 C) or more in the afternoon — a rising and falling (undulating) fever is one of the hallmarks of the disease
- Chills
- Sweats
- Weakness
- Fatigue
- Joint, muscle and back pain
- Headache
Brucellosis symptoms may disappear for weeks or months and then return. In some people, brucellosis becomes chronic, with symptoms persisting for years, even after treatment. Long-term signs and symptoms include fatigue, fevers, arthritis and spondylitis — an inflammatory arthritis that affects the spine and nearby joints.
When to see a doctor
Brucellosis can be hard to identify, especially in the early stages, when it often resembles the flu. See your doctor if you develop a rapidly rising fever, muscle aches or unusual weakness and have any risk factors for the disease, or if you have a persistent fever.
- Brucellosis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/Brucellosis_g.htm. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Everett ED. Microbiology, epidemiology, and pathogenesis of Brucella. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 17, 2008.
- Everett ED. Clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of brucellosis in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 17, 2008.
- Franco MP, et al. Human brucellosis. Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2007;7:775.
- Purwar S. Human brucellosis: A burden of a half-million cases per year. Southern Medical Journal. 2007;100:1074.
- Brucellosis. New York State Department of Health. http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/communicable/brucellosis/fact_sheet.htm. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Brucellosis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases: Division of Bacterial Diseases. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/Brcellosis_t.htm. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Pappas G. Treatment of brucellosis: Regimens containing aminoglycosides are most effective but difficult to implement in practice. BMJ. 2008;336:678.
- Hashmi S, et al. Rare red rash. American Journal of Medicine. 2008;121:862.
- Skalsky K, et al. Treatment of human brucellosis: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. In press. Accessed Nov. 16, 2008.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Laboratory-acquired brucellosis - Indiana and Minnesota, 2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2008;57:39Hashmi S, et al. Rare red rash. American Journal of Medicine. 2008;121:862.
- Everett ED. Brucellosis in children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 17, 2008.
- Donch DA, et al. Status report - fiscal year 2007, Cooperative State-Federal Brucellosis Eradication Program. USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/brucellosis/downloads/yearly_rpt.pdf. Accessed Nov. 19, 2008.
- Vaccine use following brucellosis and pseudorabies eradication. Center for Veterinary Biologics. www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/vet_biologics/publications/USAHA_CVB_2007_Handouts.pdf. Accessed Nov. 19, 2008.
