The time between a person's exposure to a contaminated source and becoming sick is 2 days to 4 weeks. Illness usually begins abruptly with fever and other symptoms.
Without treatment, Leptospirosis can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, respiratory distress, and even death.
It rarely lasts more than a week. But about 10% of the time, when you have a severe form of leptospirosis, you'll get better, but then get sick again. This is called Weil's disease and it can cause much more serious issues, like chest pain and swollen arms and legs.
Drinking contaminated water can also cause infection. Outbreaks of leptospirosis are usually caused by exposure to contaminated water, such as floodwaters. Person to person transmission is rare.
Most cases of leptospirosis have no symptoms or have very mild symptoms that go away on their own. Only about 1% of people with leptospirosis get severely ill with Weil's syndrome. Weil's syndrome is often deadly if not treated or if you delay treatment. But if treated promptly, it's very likely you'll recover.
Common initial symptoms of leptospirosis include fever, severe headache, sore muscles, chills, vomiting, and red eyes. Symptoms usually come on suddenly. These symptoms can mimic other diseases, such as influenza, and diagnosis is often difficult. People with leptospirosis may have some, or all of these symptoms.
Leptospirosis is spread mainly by the urine of infected animals and is generally not transmitted from person to person.
About 10 percent of people with leptospirosis develop severe disease, including kidney failure and/or liver damage, meningitis, difficulty breathing, and bleeding. Case fatality rate is 5 to 15% in cases with severe clinical illness.
See a doctor within 24 hours of suspected exposure or if flu-like symptoms develop, to get a blood sample and antibiotic treatment. Tell the doctor that leptospirosis may be the cause of your illness – some doctors may not be familiar with the symptoms.
Wash floors and surfaces with a sanitizing solution like bleach (one-part household bleach and 10 parts water) to kill the bacteria.
Although leptospirosis is relatively rare in Australia, it is more common in warm and moist regions such as northeastern NSW and Queensland. About 200 cases are diagnosed nationally each year, although there are likely to be many more undiagnosed cases. Men are affected more often than women.
Leptospirosis is treatable with antibiotics. If an animal is treated early, it may recover more rapidly and any organ damage may be less severe. Other treatment methods, such as dialysis and hydration therapy may be required.
You can include ginger in your diet: It is one of the effective ways to treat Leptospirosis. According to a study conducted on mice, the ginger extracts decrease anti-inflammatory cytokines which can control the organ damage due to Leptospirosis. You can consume ginger by including in your soup, dal and so on.
After five to seven days of illness, leptospires may also be recovered from urine for up to 14 days or more after symptom onset. Isolation can be difficult and can require up to 16 weeks even in experienced laboratories.
People may pass the bacteria in their urine for about 1 month, although some people may pass it for as long as 5 months. People can also get leptospirosis from other infected people, but this is rare.
Medical emergency
Leptospirosis can have serious life threatening effects. Get medical attention if cuts in your skin or your mucous membranes, such as your eyes, have been exposed to the urine of unvaccinated animals or farm animals, or contaminated water or soil.
Age Distribution
Reported Leptospirosis cases occur most often in the 25 to 44-year-old age group while hospitalized cases were more consistent across age groups (Figure 2).
The innate immune system constitutes the first line of host defence, playing a crucial role in early recognition and elimination of leptospires. The activation of the alternative pathway of the complement system is one of the most important effector mechanisms during the first hours of infection [27, 28].
The mortality rate in severe leptospirosis averages approximately 10%, but has been described as ranging from 5-40%. Elderly and immunocompromised people are at the highest risk for mortality overall. Most deaths occur from renal failure, massive hemorrhage, or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Leptospirosis is found in countries around the world. It is most common in temperate or tropical climate regions that include South and Southeast Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Latin America.
How you get leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is spread in the pee of infected animals – most commonly rats, mice, cows, pigs and dogs.
CLINICAL PRESENTATION
The incubation period is 2–30 days, and illness usually occurs 5–14 days after exposure.
The germ can survive in moist conditions outside the host for many days or even weeks. However, they are readily killed by drying, exposure to detergents, disinfectants, heating to 50 C for five minutes and they only survive for a few hours in salt water.