{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T18:33:03Z","timestamp":1787164383263,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,19]],"date-time":"2025-11-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763510400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: This study was designed to determine the differences between brucellosis patients whose standard tube agglutination test (SAT) titers decreased or not after successful treatment. Methods: This retrospective study included patients with a course of antibiotic therapy at least 6 weeks for acute brucellosis or 12 weeks for osteoarticular involvement, and whose post-treatment clinical findings improved. Results: The mean age of the 276 patients was 45.2 years, and 50.7% were female. The SAT titer decreased in 166 patients (60%). No significant differences were found in terms of demographical and epidemiological characteristics between the groups. Patients with decreased SAT titers exhibited an elevated pre-treatment erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the lymphocytosis was more prevalent. In the non-decreased SAT group, liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values after treatment were higher. The initial SAT titer of 1\/160 and the pre-treatment rates of anaemia and thrombocytopenia were significantly higher in patients whose SAT titers became negative. Among patients whose SAT titers remained positive, the initial SAT titer was more frequently \u22651\/320, and the post-treatment AST value was higher. Conclusions: This study showed that a serological response can be obtained with a high ESR and lymphocytosis prior to treatment. It should be noted that SAT negativity cannot be observed immediately in patients with pre-treatment SAT titers \u2265 1\/320. The healthcare providers are advised to consider the complete clinical picture without relying solely on serological results.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens14111186","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,19]],"date-time":"2025-11-19T15:03:15Z","timestamp":1763564595000},"page":"1186","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Evaluation of Human Brucellosis Patients with Post-Treatment Standard Tube Agglutination Test Titers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0679-0990","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aysun","family":"Benli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, University of Istanbul, Istanbul 34093, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0049-6873","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ay\u015fe Nur","family":"Ceylan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Basaksehir \u00c7am and Sakura City Hospital, University of Health Science, Istanbul 34480, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Murray, P.R., Rosenthal, K.S., and Pfaller, M.A. (2021). 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