Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease. Bacteria of the genus Leptospira ictero-haemorrhagica cause it. Humans become infected through contact with water, food, or soil containing urine from these infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact, especially with mucosal surfaces, such as the eyes or nose, or with broken skin.

Manifestations: 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
• Vomiting
• Jaundice (yellow skin and eyes)
• Red eyes
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhoea
• 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
• Respiratory distress
• In rare cases death

Diagnose and treatment: Leptospirosis is confirmed by laboratory testing of a blood or urine sample. Treatment is available and effective.

Prevent Leptospirosis by:

• Do not swimming or wading in water that might be contaminated with animal urine.
• Protective clothing or footwear should be worn by those exposed to contaminated water or soil.

Leptospiros Resource:

Multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis of reference strains used for the diagnosis of leptospirosis in Argentina.
Pavan ME, Brihuega B, Pettinari MJ, Cairó F.
Rev Argent Microbiol. 2011 Oct-Dec;43(4):251-5
Establishment of a leptospirosis model in guinea pigs using an epicutaneous inoculations route.
Zhang Y, Lou XL, Yang HL, Zhang XY, Guo XK, He P, Jiang XC.
BMC Infect Dis. 2012 Jan 25;12(1):20. [Epub ahead of print
Development of a magnetic bead fluorescence microscopy immunoassay to detect and quantify Leptospira in environmental water samples.
Schreier S, Doungchawee G, Triampo D, Wangroongsarb P, Hartskeerl RA, Triampo W.
Acta Trop. 2012 Jan 5. [Epub ahead of print
[Leptospirosis--current problems].
Wasiński B.
Przegl Epidemiol. 2011;65(3):471-6. Review. Polish.
Growth response and shedding of Leptospira spp. in urine following vaccination for leptospirosis in young farmed deer.
Subharat S, Wilson P, Heuer C, Collins-Emerson J.
N Z Vet J. 2012 Jan;60(1):14-20
Human leptospira isolates circulating in mayotte (Indian ocean) have unique serological and molecular features.
Bourhy P, Collet L, Lernout T, Zinini F, Hartskeerl RA, van der Linden H, Thiberge JM, Diancourt L, Brisse S, Giry C, Pettinelli F, Picardeau M.
J Clin Microbiol. 2012 Feb;50(2):307-11. Epub 2011 Dec 7
[Comparison of results of two serological methods for diagnosing leptospirosis - microagglutination test and ELISA.]
Kučerová P, Cermáková Z, Plíšková L, Valenta Z, Pavliš O, Kubíčková P.
Klin Mikrobiol Infekc Lek. 2011 Oct;17(5):173-178. Czech.
[Incidence of leptospirosis in Pardubice and Hradec Králové region and a part of Vysočina region in the years 2002-2009.]
Kučerová P, Cermáková Z, Valenta Z, Polák P, Plíšková L, Pavliš O, Voxová B.
Klin Mikrobiol Infekc Lek. 2011 Oct;17(5):168-172. Czech.
Comparative proteomic analysis of differentially expressed proteins in the urine of reservoir hosts of leptospirosis.
Nally JE, Monahan AM, Miller IS, Bonilla-Santiago R, Souda P, Whitelegge JP.
PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e26046. Epub 2011 Oct 17
Rodent abundance dynamics and leptospirosis carriage in an area of hyper-endemicity in New Caledonia.
Perez J, Brescia F, Becam J, Mauron C, Goarant C.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011 Oct;5(10):e1361. Epub 2011 Oct 25
[Leptospire infections in pigs: epidemiology, diagnostics and worldwide occurrence].
Strutzberg-Minder K, Kreienbrock L.
Berl Munch Tierarztl Wochenschr. 2011 Sep-Oct;124(9-10):345-59. German.
Cholinesterases as markers of the inflammatory process in rats infected with Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae.
da Silva CB, Wolkmer P, Da Silva AS, Paim FC, Tonin AA, Castro VS, V Felin D, Schmatz R, Gonçalves JF, Badke MR, Morsch VM, Mazzanti CM, Lopes ST.
J Med Microbiol. 2012 Feb;61(Pt 2):278-84. Epub 2011 Sep 15
Evaluation of a SYTO9 real-time polymerase chain reaction assay to detect and identify pathogenic Leptospira species in kidney tissue and urine of New Zealand farmed deer.
Subharat S, Wilson PR, Heuer C, Collins-Emerson JM.
J Vet Diagn Invest. 2011 Jul;23(4):743-52. Epub 2011 Jun 7
InvA protein is a Nudix hydrolase required for infection by pathogenic Leptospira in cell lines and animals.
Luo Y, Liu Y, Sun D, Ojcius DM, Zhao J, Lin X, Wu D, Zhang R, Chen M, Li L, Yan J.
J Biol Chem. 2011 Oct 21;286(42):36852-63. Epub 2011 Aug 23
The novel leptospiral surface adhesin Lsa20 binds laminin and human plasminogen and is probably expressed during infection.
Mendes RS, Von Atzingen M, de Morais ZM, Gonçales AP, Serrano SM, Asega AF, Romero EC, Vasconcellos SA, Nascimento AL.
Infect Immun. 2011 Nov;79(11):4657-67. Epub 2011 Aug 15
Characteristic features of intracellular pathogenic Leptospira in infected murine macrophages.
Toma C, Okura N, Takayama C, Suzuki T.
Cell Microbiol. 2011 Nov;13(11):1783-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2011.01660.x. Epub 2011 Aug 31
Leptospirosis among hospitalized febrile patients in northern Tanzania.
Biggs HM, Bui DM, Galloway RL, Stoddard RA, Shadomy SV, Morrissey AB, Bartlett JA, Onyango JJ, Maro VP, Kinabo GD, Saganda W, Crump JA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2011 Aug;85(2):275-81
Highly virulent Leptospira borgpetersenii strain characterized in the hamster model.
Diniz JA, Félix SR, Bonel-Raposo J, Seixas Neto AC, Vasconcellos FA, Grassmann AA, Dellagostin OA, Aleixo JA, da Silva EF.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2011 Aug;85(2):271-4
In vitro evidence for immune evasion activity by human plasmin associated to pathogenic Leptospira interrogans.
Vieira ML, de Morais ZM, Vasconcellos SA, Romero EC, Nascimento AL.
Microb Pathog. 2011 Nov;51(5):360-5. Epub 2011 Jul 23
Immuno-fluorescence assay of leptospiral surface-exposed proteins.
Pinne M, Haake D.
J Vis Exp. 2011 Jul 1;(53). pii: 2805. doi: 10.3791/2805
First 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next Last 48/952 Jump: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48