Leptospirosis presenting as a haemorrhagic fever in a traveller from Africa

Leptospirosis is usually a mild illness, although the severity of clinical manifestations may vary between the serovars of leptospires. In May 1993, a 48-year-old man from Ghana presented with severe icteric leptospirosis, initially managed as viral haemorrhagic fever. The causative serovar, bataviae, had not been previously diagnosed in human infection in Australia.