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Clinical profile of leptospirosis in South gujarat
A M Clerke1, A C Leuva, C Joshi
1Department of Medicine, Government Medical College, Surat - 395 001, Gujarat, India.
Background:
South Gujarat has been witnessing increasing incidence of leptospirosis for the last few years.
Aim:
To study the clinical profile of leptospirosis in South Gujarat.
Settings And Design:
Prospective study during July-September 2000 at the New Civil Hospital, Surat, Gujarat.
Patients And Methods:
All the consecutive cases with clinical suspicion of leptospirosis were screened for lgM antileptospira antibody on the first and the fourteenth day. A four fold or greater increase in agglutinin antibody titre on paired samples was considered diagnostic. If the patient died before the fourteenth day then initial titre greater than 1:15 was considered diagnostic.
Results:
Total number of patients referred to the hospital were fifty, of which thirty-eight [33 males, with age 14-50 (30 +/- 10.51)] were diagnosed as having leptospirosis. Most common organs involved were liver (27, 71.05%) and kidney (24, 63.15%). Cardio-vascular (12, 31.5%), pulmonary (10, 26.35%), neurological (2, 5.26%) and haematological (8, 21%) involvements were less common. Six patients died because of pulmonary involvement in the form of alveolar haemorrhage, while one died because of cardiac involvement.
Conclusion:
Liver and kidney were the most commonly involved organs in severe leptospirosis. Pulmonary involvement, though uncommon, led to high mortality.