Tissue typing in brucellosis.

The index case in this report was clinically, epidemiologically, and serologically proved to be suffering from acute brucellosis acquired in Britain and complicated by acute intractable reactive arthritis. HLA tissue typing was A1, A2, B7, and B27. As there is no information available about HLA typing in brucellosis in Britain, we examined further cases of human brucellosis retrospectively. Three further patients possessing B27 antigen were identified, only one of whom had had reactive arthritis. Eight of the 12 cases studied also carried A2, which is thus shown not to be protective against the development of brucellosis as had been suggested previously.