Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study.
BACKGROUND: Leptospirosis, a zoonosis associated with potentially fatal consequences, has long been a grossly underreported disease in India. There is no accurate estimate of the problem of leptospirosis in non-endemic areas such as north India. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to understand the...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:af845b804b254c7a9182f51124bb91b7 2023-05-15T15:13:28+02:00 Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. Sunil Sethi Navneet Sharma Nandita Kakkar Juhi Taneja Shiv Sekhar Chatterjee Surinder Singh Banga Meera Sharma 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000579 https://doaj.org/article/af845b804b254c7a9182f51124bb91b7 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2797087?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000579 https://doaj.org/article/af845b804b254c7a9182f51124bb91b7 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 4, Iss 1, p e579 (2010) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000579 2022-12-31T10:26:56Z BACKGROUND: Leptospirosis, a zoonosis associated with potentially fatal consequences, has long been a grossly underreported disease in India. There is no accurate estimate of the problem of leptospirosis in non-endemic areas such as north India. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to understand the clinical spectrum and risk factors associated with leptospirosis, we carried out a retrospective study in patients with acute febrile illness in north India over the last 5 years (January 2004 to December 2008). There was increased incidence of leptospirosis (11.7% in 2004 to 20.5% in 2008) as diagnosed by IgM ELISA and microscopic agglutination titer in paired acute and convalescent sera. The disease showed a peak during the rainy season (August and September). We followed up 86 cases of leptospirosis regarding their epidemiological pattern, clinical features, laboratory parameters, complications, therapy, and outcome. Mean age of patients was 32.6 years (2.5 years to 78 years) and males (57%) outnumbered females (43%). Infestation of dwellings with rats (53.7%), working in farm lands (44.2%), and contact with animals (62.1%) were commonly observed epidemiological risk factors. Outdoor workers including farmers (32.6%), labourers (11.6%), para-military personnel (2.3%), and sweepers (1.2%) were commonly affected. Modified Faine's criteria could diagnose 76 cases (88.3%). Renal failure (60.5%), respiratory failure (20.9%), the neuroleptospirosis (11.6%), and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) (11.6%) were the commonest complications. Five patients died, giving a case fatality rate of 5.9%. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: There has been a rapid rise in the incidence of leptospirosis in north India. Severe complications such as renal failure, respiratory failure, neuroleptospirosis, and DIC are being seen with increasing frequency. Increased awareness among physicians, and early diagnosis and treatment, may reduce mortality due to leptospirosis. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 4 1 e579 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Sunil Sethi Navneet Sharma Nandita Kakkar Juhi Taneja Shiv Sekhar Chatterjee Surinder Singh Banga Meera Sharma Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND: Leptospirosis, a zoonosis associated with potentially fatal consequences, has long been a grossly underreported disease in India. There is no accurate estimate of the problem of leptospirosis in non-endemic areas such as north India. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to understand the clinical spectrum and risk factors associated with leptospirosis, we carried out a retrospective study in patients with acute febrile illness in north India over the last 5 years (January 2004 to December 2008). There was increased incidence of leptospirosis (11.7% in 2004 to 20.5% in 2008) as diagnosed by IgM ELISA and microscopic agglutination titer in paired acute and convalescent sera. The disease showed a peak during the rainy season (August and September). We followed up 86 cases of leptospirosis regarding their epidemiological pattern, clinical features, laboratory parameters, complications, therapy, and outcome. Mean age of patients was 32.6 years (2.5 years to 78 years) and males (57%) outnumbered females (43%). Infestation of dwellings with rats (53.7%), working in farm lands (44.2%), and contact with animals (62.1%) were commonly observed epidemiological risk factors. Outdoor workers including farmers (32.6%), labourers (11.6%), para-military personnel (2.3%), and sweepers (1.2%) were commonly affected. Modified Faine's criteria could diagnose 76 cases (88.3%). Renal failure (60.5%), respiratory failure (20.9%), the neuroleptospirosis (11.6%), and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) (11.6%) were the commonest complications. Five patients died, giving a case fatality rate of 5.9%. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: There has been a rapid rise in the incidence of leptospirosis in north India. Severe complications such as renal failure, respiratory failure, neuroleptospirosis, and DIC are being seen with increasing frequency. Increased awareness among physicians, and early diagnosis and treatment, may reduce mortality due to leptospirosis. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sunil Sethi Navneet Sharma Nandita Kakkar Juhi Taneja Shiv Sekhar Chatterjee Surinder Singh Banga Meera Sharma |
author_facet |
Sunil Sethi Navneet Sharma Nandita Kakkar Juhi Taneja Shiv Sekhar Chatterjee Surinder Singh Banga Meera Sharma |
author_sort |
Sunil Sethi |
title |
Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
title_short |
Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
title_full |
Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
title_fullStr |
Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
title_sort |
increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern india: a clinico-epidemiological study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000579 https://doaj.org/article/af845b804b254c7a9182f51124bb91b7 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 4, Iss 1, p e579 (2010) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2797087?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000579 https://doaj.org/article/af845b804b254c7a9182f51124bb91b7 |
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000579 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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e579 |
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