Our sufferings from the hot and dry El Nino was still fresh from our mind and now here comes its cold counterpart La Nina. Expecting that La Nina will provoke more rains, we also have to assume added features such as flashfloods, overflowing canals, and floating garbage. There are certain diseases that occur during rainy season and on of these is leptospirosis.
What is leptospirosis? Leptospirosis is an acute, generalized infectious disease characterized by extensive inflammation of a blood or lymph vessel. The causative organism are slender, finely-coiled bacteria called leptospira. Some of the types mostly found in human infection include
L.ictero-haemorrhagiae, L. manilae, and L.pomona.
Leptospirosis is primarily a disease of wild and domestic animals. The most important sources of infection are rats, dogs, cats and cattle that discharges leptospira in their urine. Worldwide, rats are the common source of human infection. Humans are infected only through direct or indirect contact with animals.
Symptoms include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, vomiting, Jaundice & hemorrhagic manifestations. Patients may develop respiratory distress and liver and kidney failure and may die, if they are not treated in time.
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