Leptospirosis

Introduction: Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis: Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In ... more about Leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis: Bacterial infection usually caught from animal urine. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Leptospirosis is available below.

Symptoms of Leptospirosis

• Fever
• No symptoms - in some cases
• High fever
• Severe headache
• Chills

See full list of 14 symptoms of Leptospirosis

Medical Textbooks Online about Leptospirosis

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Leptospirosis

• Blood culture
• Urine culture
• CSF culture
• Blood antibody tests

Read more about tests for Leptospirosis

Wrongly Diagnosed with Leptospirosis?

• Misdiagnosis of Leptospirosis

Misdiagnosis and Leptospirosis

Weil's disease has poor outcome in severe cases: Leptospirosis( Weil's disesase) is a zoonotic condition which occurs due to the entry of spirochetes called leptospira. Transmission occurs by direct contact with the body fluid of an acutely infected animal or by exposure to soil or fresh water contaminated with the urine of an animal that is a chronic carrier. The prognosis for patients with mild infection is very good. More severe have a much poorer outcome. Extremes of age can result in more significant disease. The relatively poor resilience of elderly people produces a high mortality from Weil disease. Leptospirosis can be misdiagnosed as enteric fever, encephalitis or HIV infection. Government officials, public health workers, and health care workers should educate all populations at risk about proper preventative measures. Patients with severe disease need to remain in a hospitalized setting until adequate resolution of organ failure and clinical infection occurs....read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Leptospirosis

Causes of Leptospirosis

Read more about causes of Leptospirosis.

Treatments for Leptospirosis

• Antibiotics

Read more about treatments for Leptospirosis

Videos for Leptospirosis

Patient Surveys for Leptospirosis

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Leptospirosis
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Prognosis for Leptospirosis

More about prognosis of Leptospirosis

Statistics for Leptospirosis

• Medical statistics for Leptospirosis
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Leptospirosis
• Death and Mortality statistics for Leptospirosis
• Society statistics for Leptospirosis

Types of Leptospirosis

• Cane-field fever
• Hasami fever
• Pretibial fever
• Weil's syndrome
• Stuttgart disease

See full list of 8 Types of Leptospirosis

Medical Guidebooks and Ebooks for Leptospirosis

• Icon Health Sourcebook for Leptospirosis

See all guides and ebooks for Leptospirosis

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Article Excerpts about Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis (General): DBMD (Excerpt)

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. 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. (Source: excerpt from Leptospirosis (General): DBMD)

Leptospirosis and Your Pet: DBMD (Excerpt)

Leptospirosis is a disease is caused by spiral shaped bacteria called leptospires. It occurs worldwide and can affect humans as well as many wild and domestic animals, including dogs and cats. The disease can be serious for both humans and animals. In people, the symptoms are often like the flu, but sometimes leptospirosis can develop into a more severe, life-threatening illness with infections in the kidney, liver, brain, lung, and heart. (Source: excerpt from Leptospirosis and Your Pet: DBMD)

Definitions of Leptospirosis:

A severe form of LEPTOSPIROSIS, usually caused by LEPTOSPIRA INTERROGANS SEROVAR ICTEROHAEMORRHAGIAE and occasionally other serovars. It is transmitted to humans by the rat and is characterized by hemorrhagic and renal symptoms with accompanying JAUNDICE. - (Source - Diseases Database)

An infectious disease cause by leptospira and transmitted to humans from domestic animals; characterized by jaundice and fever - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Leptospirosis is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Leptospirosis, or a subtype of Leptospirosis, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Ophanet, a consortium of European partners, currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000. They list Leptospirosis as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet