Abstract: Objective: To investigate the value of dynamic monitoring of procalcitonin(PCT), C-reaction protein (CRP) and WBC in acute brucellosis patients. Methods: A total of 151 patients with acute brucellosis, 120 patients with chronic brucellosis and 72 healthy controls were recruited in this study. The levels of PCT, CRP and WBC were detected and the results before and after therapy were compared. Results: Of the 151 acute brucellosis patients the level of PCT was(3.29±0.49) ng/mL with positive rate of 65.56%, the level of CRP was(24.84±2.95) mg/L with positive rate of 56.29% , and the WBC count was (7.53±3.42)×10⁹/L with positive rate of 7.28%. The levels of PCT, CRP and WBC in 120 cases of chronic brucellosis patients were (0.27±0.03) ng/mL, (3.32±0.35) mg/L and (6.27±2.56)×10⁹/L, respectively, and the positive rates were 7.50%, 8.33% and 6.67% , respectively. The levels of PCT, CRP and WBC in 72 healthy controls were(0.21±0.01) ng/mL, (2.93±0.35) mg/L and (5.91±2.31)×10⁹/L, respectively. The differences in levels of PCT, CRP were statistically significant between acute brucellosis group, chronic brucellosis group and healthy control group(P<0.01), but there was no significant difference in WBC count between the three groups. The sensitivity, specificity, Youden index, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of PCT for diagnosing acute brucellosiswere higher than those of CRP, and the combined detection of PCT and CRP showed the highest sensitivity and negative predictive value. In acute brucellosis group the levels of PCT and CRP after treatment were lower than those before treatment, and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05). Conclusions: Combined detection of levels of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein could increase the sensitivity for diagnosing acute brucellosis, and monitoring of levels of procalcitonin and C-reactive protein in treatment of acute brucellosis has value in predicting the outcome.

Key words: Brucellosis, Procalcitonin, C-reactive protein