I was told to stop having sex because of brucella

What you need to know:

  • Brucellosis symptoms may include fever, joint pain, backache and fatigue and not surprisingly you suspect brucellosis recurrences when your back starts hurting.
  • Backache can result from many conditions regardless of whether you have ever suffered from brucellosis or not.

I have had brucella for the last three years and despite taking medication, it has refused to cure. Whenever it comes back, I get severe backache the reason I have been told to stop having sex. Why?
Kisuule

Dear Kisuule,
Brucellosis is a bacterial infection that spreads from animals to people (zoonosis). Infected domestic animals including cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs as well as other angulate wild animals hunted for meat are implicated. It is mainly spread to humans through consumption of unpasteurised milk, cheese and other dairy products.

In a few circumstances, it comes from eating raw meats from brucellosis affected animals, penetrative bone pieces injury to abattoir workers, and even more rarely, the causative bacteria can spread through the air or through human direct contact with infected animals, mother to child placenta transmission or through breast milk, blood transfusion, and sexual transmission. It is most likely this rare sexual transmission that may have led the medical worker to tell you to stop having unprotected sex until you are properly treated.

Definite diagnosis of brucellosis requires the isolation of the organism from the blood, body fluids, or tissues. In Uganda, most blood tests which are done are for antibodies most of which are unreliable causing people who have suffered from the disease and got cured to keep on being treated even for years.

Brucellosis symptoms may include fever, joint pain, backache and fatigue and not surprisingly you suspect brucellosis recurrences when your back starts hurting. Backache can result from many conditions regardless of whether you have ever suffered from brucellosis or not. Brucellosis symptoms may disappear for months and then return even after successful treatment or when the disease turns chronic, with symptoms persisting for years.

Brucellosis is usually treated with antibiotics for six weeks but this does not guarantee its recurrence. Prevention may require avoiding unpasteurised dairy foods, cooking meat thoroughly and protected handling of animals and their products.