Evaluation of Diagnostic Sensitivity of Wright, Coombs Wright and 2-Mercapto Ethanol in Diagnosis of Brucellosis

Background: Brucellosis is one of the important zoonotic diseases with variety of symptoms and signs. Using of cost effective, easy and safe diagnostic methods in screening of brucellosis is an important priority. Several studies have been carried out to recognize appropriate diagnostic methods and each have reported different results. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of Wright, Coombs Wright and 2-Mercapto Ethanol tests in diagnosis of brucellosis. Method: In these cross-sectional study 340 diagnosed inpatient cases of brucellosis from Hasheminegad Hospital, Mashhad was included in 2008. Demographic characteristics, clinical signs and laboratory results of subjects were collected.  Data analysis was done by SPSS11.5 and diagnostic sensitivity of Wright, Coombs Wright and 2-Mercapto Ethanol were assessed. Results: Results showed that %54 of participants was male and %58 was in 20-40years old age group. The most common symptoms were fever (%34) and arthralgy (%22).Among patients there were 324 positive Coombs Wright test and 318 positive 2ME test. The sensitivity of Wright test was 92% (CI%95=83-95) and 80.6% (CI%95=76.6-85.1) according to the basis 1:80 and 1:160. Sensitivity of Coombs Wright and 2ME tests were 95.3% (CI%95=91.3-97.7) and 93.7% (CI%95=91.1-95.6), respectively. Conclusion: To diagnose brucellosis Wright, Coombs Wright and 2ME tests, which are commonly used in Iran, are effective tests compared with other new and expensive diagnostic tests.