Cellulitis in human brucellosis: An atypical presentation

INTRODUCTION: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease with variable clinical manifestations and atypical presentation in humans. Human brucellosis cases are not seen often in Malaysia.

CASE REPORT: This is a case report of 19 years old gentleman who presented with fever, lower limb redness, pain and swelling. He was initially treated as cellulitis. However, based on the recovery of Brucella melitensis from his blood culture, he was later diagnosed to have brucellosis. He had a history of consumption of fresh goat's milk and uncooked meat which could have been the possible modes of transmission. Brucella serology IgM and IgG were both positive, and anti-Brucella immunocapture agglutination test (BrucellaCapt) was also positive with a titer of 1:2560. He was treated with six weeks of oral doxycycline 100 mg twice daily and oral rifampin 450 mg twice daily.

DISCUSSION: This is a case of human brucellosis with atypical cutaneous involvement.