Background:Brucellosis is one of the most widespread zoonosis worldwide, it is caused by Gram-negative coccobacilli, Brucella spp. In China, 90% of brucellosis occurred in six northern agricultural provinces. However, there is an increasing trend of human brucellosis in southern provinces but only limited cases were reported. Our study aims to describe the clinical features and epidemiology of brucellosis in a tertiary hospital of southern china. Methods:A retrospective study was conducted in the past 4 years. Clinical details of brucellosis including occupation, suspected transmission route and complications were retrieved. Serum for tube agglutination test to check Brucella antibody. Blood and aspirate were collected for culture, Vitek 2 and MALDL-TOF MS were used for identification.Results:Thirteen cases of laboratory confirmed brucellosis were encountered in a highly cosmopolitan city Shenzhen of South China between January 2014 and October 2018. Seven of the thirteen patients were male, with age ranging from 29 to 73 years old. Five patients (38.5%) came from Guangdong province, and eight patients (61.5%) came from other provinces. The commonest route of transmission was handling and consumption of infected placenta from goats. Common presenting symptoms include fever, osteoarticular pain and urinary symptoms. Common physical signs were fever, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy. The commonest complication was spondylodiscitis/ peripheral joint arthritis (n=4), while exotic complications including abdominal aortitis with pseudoaneurysm, hepatic and spleen abscess, soft tissue abscess, and epididymo-orchitis were also observed in 4 other patients. The most life-threating but rare complication of abdominal aortitis in the elderly could be easily missed due to the nonspecific presenting symptom. Conclusions:In summary, brucellosis is increasingly seen in highly cosmopolitan part of southern China. In addition to tuberculosis, typhoid fever and typhus, brucellosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of fever of unknown origin in this locality. Presence of extensive atherosclerosis in elderly patient may predispose them to endovascular infection by Brucella species.