Application of serum ferritin as acute phase reactive protein in brucellosis
Objective:To compare the levels of peripheral blood ferritin in patients with acute and chronic brucellosis before and during treatment,and to evaluate the relationship between serum ferritin and inflammatory response of acute and chronic brucellosis and the relationship between treat-ment outcome of brucellosis.Methods:Thirty-six patients with acute and chronic brucellosis who did not receive antibiotic treatment were collected as the pre-treatment group.Thirty-six patients with acute and chronic brucellosis who were treated with antibiotics for about 10 days were selected as the treatment group.Twenty-five healthy subjects were selected as the control group.Serum ferritin levels in each group were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The differences of ser-um ferritin levels among groups were statistically analyzed.Results:Before treatment,the level of se-rum ferritin in acute and chronic phase and control group was respectively different (P<0.01 ).The level of ferritin in acute and chronic groups was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.01 ).The level of ferritin in the acute group was significantly higher than that in the chronic group (P<0.01 ).During the treatment,the the level of serum ferritin in the acute and chronic phases and the control group was respectively different (P<0.01 ).The level of ferritin in the acute and chronic brucellosis groups was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01 ).The level of ferritin in acute group was significantly lower than that in chronic group (P<0.01 ).The levels of ferritin in acute and chronic brucellosis were significantly lower than those before treatment (P<0.001 ).Conclusion:Serum ferritin is related to the degree of inflammatory response of brucel-losis,which can be used to monitor the degree of inflammatory response of brucellosis and evaluate the therapeutic effect.