BRUCELLOSIS SPONDYLITIS

Spondylitis is probably the most common complicating disorder of the bones and joints referable to undulant fever. The first proved instance of an actual suppurative lesion in the spinal column from which brucella organisms were cultured was reported in 1932 by Kulowski and Vinke.¹Six more cases of brucellosis spondylitis have been reported in the English literature.²In the foreign literature, however, there are numerous reports of brucellosis infections of the spinal column. Piero Palagi³in 1934 gathered 29 cases of brucellosis spondylitis from the literature and added 17 cases of his own. Most authors agree that spondylitis as a complication of undulant fever is most likely to occur several months after the onset of the febrile state; but cases of brucellosis have been reported in which localization in the spinal column developed as early as three weeks and as late as one year after the original