Leptospirosis

• Main Author: Burdmann, Emmanuel A.
• Other Authors: Jha, Vivekanand
• Format: Book
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University Press 2015
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199592548.003.0191

Leptospirosis is one of the most prevalent zoonotic diseases worldwide. Pathogenic spirochaetes are shed in the urine of infected mammals to the environment. Humans are infected through contact with contaminated material. Leptospirosis is more prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas, but exists in all continents except Antarctica. The disease is difficult to diagnose and hence frequently neglected. Its clinical picture ranges from a mild flu-like disease to a life-threatening form with pulmonary haemorrhage, liver failure and acute kidney injury (AKI), called Weil disease, which may affect 10% of those with clinical disease. Typically, fever, myalgia and headache progress to nausea and vomiting, jaundice, red eyes, and other manifestation affecting skin, brain, and other organs. Kidney involvement, characterized by acute tubulointerstitial nephritis, is nearly universal. It may be clinically manifested as a tubulopathy with urinary electrolytes wasting, hypokalaemia and hypomagnesaemia and/or as AKI, which is more frequently non-oliguric. Antibiotic therapy may reduce hospitalization time and AKI frequency. Otherwise management is supportive, including timely and adequate dialysis support.