Abstract
Brucellosis remains endemic in many countries including Saudi Arabia. The disinfection of objects and surfaces contaminated with
Brucella
spp is not difficult, but we encountered a situation in which the organism survived the decontamination and liquefaction procedure adopted for AFB culture. A sputum specimen from a patient was sent for TB culture and the BACTEC MGIT 960 system isolated an organism identified as
Brucella
spp. The blood cultures and the serological testing had confirmed this case to be brucellosis. Isolation of
Brucella
spp from sputum samples is rare; this case appears to be the first of its kind. As the clinical presentation of TB may mimic brucellosis and vice versa, we recommend that handling specimens from all cases of undiagnosed PUO should be done with care because of the possibility that it may contain either of these organisms.