Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that causes mild symptoms in most of the cases, but sometimes it can turn into a life-threatening condition.

Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that affects both people and different kinds of animals.

Causes of leptospirosis

• Leptospirosis is caused by the bacteria Leptospira, which enter the body through the eyes, nose, mouth, or breaks in the skin. The bacteria collect in the kidneys and leave the body through the urine.
• The bacteria spread through contaminated water or soil to people and animals, and the risk of getting infected with leptospirosis increases after hurricanes and doing activities that include contacting water, soil, or animals, such as water recreation (like swimming), gardening, hiking, hunting, and working in a veterinary clinic, dairy farm, butcher shop, and others.

Symptoms of leptospirosis

Leptospirosis can take 2-30 days to start affecting the body, and it manifests in two phases:

• The leptospiremic phase, which can cause flu-like symptoms or no symptoms at all. After that, the patient may get better and then be sick again.
• The immune phase, which causes severe symptoms, including chest pain, difficulty breathing, bloody cough, bloody urine, reduction in the amount of urine, severe jaundice, black and tarry stool, and petechiae (flat spots in the skin with a red or dark color).

Leptospirosis can lead to serious complications, including organ damage or failure (especially the kidneys or liver), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), respiratory failure, and meningitis.

Diagnosis of leptospirosis

• Physical exam.
• Blood tests.
• Urine tests.
• Imaging tests.

Treatment of leptospirosis

• Antibiotics.
• Severe cases may require hospitalization.
• Leptospirosis can be prevented by avoiding swimming in water that may be contaminated with animal urine, avoiding contact with ill animals, wearing protective clothes when working with animals, avoiding drinking water from lakes and rivers before boiling it, and avoiding swimming in rivers and lakes after floods.