[The Pavia Center for the study and diagnosis of leptospirosis]

According to his deep experience in this field, the Author greatly appreciates the program agreed during this congress. He thinks that Leptospirosis is a still widely diffused zoonosis, for which accurate diagnostic work-up is requested, coupled to an adequate epidemiologic study. Among his own contributions to this argument, the A. remarks the studies on the experimental infection of the guineapig with L. icterohaemorrhagiae, providing evidence that jaundice and lethal course of the illness are due to the Leptospira and not, as it was currently supposed, to an overcoming Staphylococcal septicemia. Furthermore the A. observed a striking epidemic by L. pomona affecting 90 out of 120 rice-workers in the neighbourhood of Pavia. This Leptospira, previously unreported in Europe, was found to be carried by Norvegian rats captured in that country. These data were in contrast with the more frequent incidence, in this work environment, of L. bataviae, carried by Micromis minutus sorcinus. Following the amount of observations and researches in this field "Center for study and diagnosis of Leptospirosis" was founded in 1954, and is still working in Pavia. The necessity of isolation of the infective agent, in addition to the simple serologic study, was claimed by the observation of five cases of meningitis in young pigherds, in which L. canicola (instead of the more common L. pomona) was demonstrated and îelded from the CSF of a patient. In the field of veterinary medicine, the A. demonstrated the L. australis A as responsible of some cases of miscarriages in openair breeded cattle. In those cases the hedgehog (Erinaceus europeus) was the natural carrier.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)