Leptospirosis is essentially animal infections by spirocheats-
Leptospira that affects humans under certain environmental condition.
In humans it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected
persons may have no symptoms at all.
Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache,
chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow
skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash.
If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney
damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain
and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare
cases death occurs. Many of these symptoms can be mistaken for
other diseases.
Over the years two distinct epidemiological patterns have evolved,
the rural and the urban pattern. In cities rodents that infest
the sewage systems and free living animals act as carriers even
a mild rain fall chokes the poorly maintain drainage systems flooding
the roads and causing upsurges of leptospirosis during monsoon.
In rural form the outbreaks are associated with agricultural event
such as seeding, planting, and harvesting.
Leptospirosis is grossly under reported, this is mainly due to
lack of awareness about the disease among medical professionals
and difficulties in laboratory diagnosis of the disease.
