The Effect of Brucellosis on Women's Health and Reproduction

Abstract

Due to its potential harmful effects on the general health and reproductive life of the women, in the light of available literature, it was aimed to review the effect of human brucellosis on women's health and reproduction. Data from 75 reports belonging to the years 1917 through 2015, obtained via a search on various internet sources by the words "Brucella", "brucellosis," "women's health," "human pregnancy," "human reproduction," "abortion," "preterm birth," "intrauterine fetal demise," and "intrauterine fetal death" were used to characterize basic microbiological features together with the risk factors, clinical presentations and complications of the human brucellosis related to various aspects of reproductive well-being. A high rate of spontaneous abortion was a more consistent finding rather than high rates of preterm delivery and intrauterine fetal death in pregnant women with brucellosis. The occurrence of abortion was not associated with the magnitude of serum agglutination titre or the clinical type of disease. The novel replication profiles of Brucella in human trophoblasts give insights into the pathogenesis of infectious abortion. Brucellosis is a risk factor for women's general health and reproduction as well as for many obstetric complications during pregnancy, of which spontaneous abortion is the mostly known. In order to prevent the disease and these complications, education of the women, especially the poor ones of childbearing age with low educational level is strongly advised. When the infected women present for medical care, an appropriate antimicrobial therapy should be started promptly.