A Patient's Guide to Leptospirosis
John Smith MA
Mohamed Awad MD
Smashwords Edition
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Copyright 2011 John Smith MA M Awad MD
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Contents
Six: How the Adrenals and Kidneys Work
Appendix A: Internet Resources/Further Reading
Leptospirosis is a relatively rare bacterial illness that affects animals (particularly rats, mice, moles, birds, amphibians and reptiles) and humans. At least five variations in the bacteria exist in the U.S: Icterohaemorrhagiae, Canicola, Pomona, Grippotyphosa, and Bratislava. Other variants worldwide include Valbuzzi and Leptospira interrogaris sensu stricto. It leads to a variety of symptoms, while a few people could have no symptoms at all.
The disease is due to a spiral-shaped micro-organism called spirochete. A definite diagnosis needs lab testing of a blood or urine sample. Early detection is crucial as the illness may cause heavy complications if not treated early in its course. These include kidney damage (nephrosis), meningitis (inflammation of the tissue round the brain or spinal cord), respiratory distress and / or liver failure. It is also known as Black Jaundice, Canefield Fever, Canicola Fever, Field Fever, Mud Fever, Pretibial fever, Rat Catcher’s Yellows, Seven Day Fever, Spirochetosis, Swineherd Disease or Weil’s Syndrome. Unless you live in the tropics, you are more likely to catch the disease in August, September, February and March.
History
The disease was discovered by Adolf Weil in 1886. However, Leptospira bacteria wasn’t seen under the microscope until 1886. Leptospirosis was a major cause of death among the Native American population in coastal Massachusetts before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620. While some experts think that the disease was brought over by Europeans, an uncontested fact is that the Native American lifestyle exposed them to high risk factors such as proximity to the animal environment. Epidemics sometimes occur in modern times, three of the most recent being in the Indian Andaman Islands in the 1980s, the Philippines in 2009 and in Ireland in 2010. World War II saw many cases of leptospirosis, likely because of the proximity of troops to rats in the trenches. When the disease hit the Andaman Islands in the 1980s, it was first called Andaman Hemorrhagic Fever (AHF) but was later identified as leptospirosis.