Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis aka Weil's disease aka canicola fever aka canefield fever aka nanukayami fever aka 7-day fever was first described by Adolph Weil in 1886 when he reported an "acute infectious disease with enlargement of spleen, jaundice and nephritis". The pathogen, Leptospira-genus bacteria was isolated in 1907 from post-mortem renal tissue slice.

Related Topics:
Adolph Weil - 1886 - Spleen - Jaundice - Nephritis - Pathogen - Leptospira - 1907

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Though being recognised among world's most common zoonosis, leptospirosis is a relatively rare bacterial infection in humans; the pathogen, however, may cause a serious disease that involves multiple systems of the organism and can be fatal.

Related Topics:
Zoonosis - Bacteria - Infection

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Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and a wide range of animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The infection is commonly transmitted to humans by allowing fresh water that has been contaminated by animal urine to come in contact with unhealed breaks in the skin, eyes or with the mucous membranes.

Related Topics:
Human - Urine - Skin - Mucous membrane

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Leptospirosis is caused by spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira. Approximately 250 strains have been found, divided into serogroups, serovars and strains, depending on serological differences. Not all strains are pathogenic, and most pathogenic strains are host specific. Some hosts can be carriers (i.e. without having disease), such as rats.

Related Topics:
Spirochaete - Genus - Leptospira - Pathogenic

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Except for tropic areas, leptospirosis cases have a relatively distinct seasonality with most of them occurring August through September (in the Northern Hemisphere).

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In humans leptospiral infection causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Because of the wide range of symptoms the infection is often wrongly diagnosed. This leads to a lower registered number of cases than there really are. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice, red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. Complications include renal failure, meningitis, liver failure, and respiratory distress (This severe form of the disease is known as Weil's disease). Approximately 5-40% of severe leptospirosis cases are fatal, however, such cases only constitute about 10% of all registered incidents. Diagnosis of leptospirosis is confirmed with serological tests like enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and PCR.

Related Topics:
Fever - Headache - Vomit - Jaundice - Eye - Diarrhea - Rash - Renal - Meningitis - Liver - Diagnosis - Serological - Enzyme - Immunosorbent - ELISA

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On infection the microorganism can be found in blood for the first 7 to 10 days, invoking a serological reaction and then moving to the kidneys. After 7 to 10 days the microorganism can be found in fresh urine.

Related Topics:
Microorganism - Blood

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Diagnostics are performed by testing a serum or blood sample serologically with a panel of different strains. It is possible to culture of the microorganism from blood or serum, fresh urine and possibly fresh kidney biopsy. Serological testing is laborious and expensive, thus often not an option in developing countries.

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Outbreaks of leptospirosis are usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals (cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents, and wild animals). Humans become infected through contact with water, food, or soil containing urine from these infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact. The disease is not known to be spread from person to person and cases of bacteria dissemination in convalescence are extremaly rare in humans.

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There are no human vaccines. Animal vaccines are only for a few strains, and are only effective for a few months.

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Leptospirosis is treated with antibiotics, such as doxycycline or penicillin. Doxycycline can also be used as a prophylaxis.

Related Topics:
Antibiotics - Doxycycline - Penicillin - Prophylaxis

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