Co-existence of ankylosing spondylitis and brucellosis in a female patient

Inflammatory low back pain, spinal involvement and sacroiliitis are key features of both brucellosis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). It is sometime difficult to distinguish the features of sacroiliitis and spinal involvement of brucellosis from those of AS, but their treatment are very different.The subject described in this report is a 42-year-old female patient with known diagnosis of brucellosis from one year who developed HLA-B27 positive AS. This case report illustrates two important points — firstly, co-existence of brucellosis and AS in the same patient at the same time and, secondly, partial spinal fusion of thoracic spine due to brucellosis, which has not been reported previously.Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of this co-existence mainly observed in endemic areas such as the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, and Central and South America.