Internally Peer Reviewed 2-16. A definitive diagnosis is made by culturing the organism from blood, bone marrow, or other clinical specimens. The laboratory should be advised to maintain cultures for at least 4 weeks, as Brucella species grow slowly in vitro. Isolates may be misidentified as Moraxella or Haemophilus species in automated bacterial identification systems that lack specific profiles for Brucella species.
Serologic tests are valuable for diagnosis.
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