Leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonoses (infectious diseases of animals that can be transmitted to humans), with cases in all continents (except Antarctica), but especially in the tropics.
There are cases of illness here too. The disease is caused by leptospires, which belong to the group of spirochetes (spiral bacteria), also responsible for other diseases, such as syphilis, relapsing fever and others. Leptospires can live 10-20 days at temperatures of 20-30 degrees. C in the water of the canals, swamps and wet earth, but they are destroyed by the sun’s rays (ultraviolet radiation), dryness or chlorinated water.
It also lasts for several weeks in neutral or alkaline urine, at 22 gr. C. The disease occurs sporadically, especially in summer and autumn, but much less often in the form of epidemics. The most exposed people are those who work in regions where humidity, relatively constant temperature and the presence of rats and mice favor the persistence of leptospires.
Those who work in contact with animals in livestock farms or slaughterhouses, veterinarians and laboratory animal caretakers, etc., are also exposed, in these cases leptospirosis has the character of an occupational disease.
The reservoir and sources of infection are wild and domestic animals, many of which are permanent hosts of leptospires. Rodents generally make an inapparent disease and excrete lifelong leptospires through urine. Pigs, cattle and dogs usually get mild forms of the disease. The disease is transmitted through direct contact with the blood, urine, or organs of infected animals, or with soil and water contaminated with leptospires, which enter the human body through skin lesions, or through the nasal, buco-pharyngeal and conjunctival mucosa. Contact occurs during professional activity for those exposed, or incidentally for hunters and fishermen or, more frequently, by bathing in puddles.
Contagiousness lasts a few months in infected animals and a lifetime in wild rodents. During the clinical illness, the person is also infectious, through urine. Susceptibility to the disease is general, and immunity after the disease is weak.
CAREFUL! Clinically, the disease begins suddenly, with chills, fever, generalized muscle pain, headache, sometimes vomiting, after an incubation period of 7-14 days (with extremes of 2-20 days).
Leptospirosis is a septicemic infectious disease with an evolution in 2 phases: the septicemic phase (about a week after the onset) with the persistence of the initial symptoms, to which is added the intense redness of the conjunctivae and the appearance of skin rashes in the form of small macules (bumps ); pulmonary (cough and expectoration of blood), digestive (nausea and vomiting accompanied by liver enlargement and, at the end of the phase, septicemia, jaundice) and meningeal (severe headaches and strengthening of the neck muscles) manifestations may also occur. The second phase of the disease, called the organic phase, is manifested by fever and some specific syndromes.
REMEMBER! Leptospirosis is a serious disease, but with good chances of cure by recognizing the symptoms and instituting the appropriate treatment. The presence of jaundice and renal failure are aggravating factors. In pregnant women, the disease causes abortion.
2023-10-15 11:31:00
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