Project description:BackgroundAcute undifferentiated febrile illness is a common challenge for clinicians, especially in tropical and subtropical countries. Incorrect or delayed diagnosis of febrile patients may result in medical complications or preventable deaths. Common causes of acute undifferentiated febrile illness in Colombia include leptospirosis, rickettsioses, dengue fever, malaria, chikungunya, and Zika virus infection. In this study, we described the acute undifferentiated febrile illness in postmortem patients reported as suspected cases of leptospirosis through the national leptospirosis surveillance in Colombia, 2016-2019.Methodology/principal findingsWe retrospectively analyze human fresh and formalin-fixed tissue samples from fatal suspected leptospirosis cases reported by the Public Health Laboratories in Colombia. Leptospirosis confirmation was made by immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the tissue samples. In some cases, the serum sample was used for confirmation by Microagglutination test (MAT). Simultaneously, tissue samples were tested by PCR for the most common viral (dengue, Zika, and chikungunya), bacterial (Brucella spp., and Rickettsia spp.), and parasitic (malaria). Fresh tissue samples from 92 fatal suspected leptospirosis cases were reported to the National Reference Laboratory from 22/32 departments in Colombia. We confirmed leptospirosis in 27% (25/92) of cases. Other pathogens identified by real-time PCR were Brucella spp. (10.9%), Rickettsia spp. (14.1%), and dengue (2.2%). Dengue (6.9%), hepatitis (3.5%), and Yellow Fever cases (2.2%) were detected by the pathology. All patients were negative for chikungunya and Plasmodium spp. Most cases were classified as undifferentiated febrile illnesses (45.7%; 42/92).Conclusions/significanceThis study underscores the importance of early and accurate recognition of leptospirosis to prevent mortalities. Moreover, it draws attention to the existence of other febrile syndromes in Colombia, including rickettsiosis and brucellosis, that currently lack sufficient human surveillance and regular reporting. Expanding laboratory surveillance to include viruses such as Hantavirus, Mayaro virus, Oropouche virus, and West Nile virus is crucial.
Project description:BackgroundLeptospirosis is responsible for various clinical syndromes, classically linked with fever and acute kidney injury.Methodology/principal findingsA prospective multicenter observational study was conducted in six health institutions in the region of Urabá, Colombia. Enrollment was based on leptospirosis-compatible clinical syndrome and a positive preliminary serological test, with PCR used to confirm the disease. Clinical data were collected using a standard questionnaire at enrollment, complemented with a review of clinical records. A total of 100 patients were enrolled, 37% (95% CI 27.0-46.9%) had a positive PCR result confirming acute leptospirosis. The most frequent symptoms in patients with a positive PCR test were headache (91.9%; 34/37), chills and sweating (80.6%; 29/37), nausea (75%; 27/37), dizziness (74.3%; 26/37), vomiting (61.1%; 22/37), congestion (56.8%; 21/37), and conjunctival suffusion (51.4%; 19/37). The frequency of clinical signs classically described in leptospirosis was low: jaundice (8.3%; 3/36) and anuria/oliguria (21.6%; 8/37). An increased neutrophile percentage was reported in 60.6% (20/33) of patients. The presence of complications was 21.6% (8/37), with pulmonary complications being the most frequent (75.0% 6/8). One confirmed case died resulting in a fatality of 2.7% (95% CI 0.5-13.8).Conclusions/significanceLeptospirosis should be considered within the differential diagnoses of an undifferentiated acute febrile syndrome. Leptospirosis presents diagnostic challenges due to limitations in both clinical and laboratory diagnosis thus it is important to improve understanding of disease presentation and identify signs and symptoms that might help differentiate it from other causes of febrile illness.
Project description:BackgroundDengue fever and leptospirosis have partially overlapping geographic distributions, similar clinical presentations and potentially life-threatening complications but require different treatments. Distinguishing between these cosmopolitan emerging pathogens represents a diagnostic dilemma of global importance. We hypothesized that perturbations in host biomarkers can differentiate between individuals with dengue fever and leptospirosis during the acute phase of illness.MethodsWe randomly selected subjects from a prospective cohort study of acute febrile illness in Bucaramanga, Colombia and tested 19 serum biomarkers by ELISA in dengue fever (DF, n = 113) compared to subjects with leptospirosis (n = 47). Biomarkers were selected for further analysis if they had good discriminatory ability (area under the ROC curve (AUC) >0.80) and were beyond a reference range (assessed using local healthy controls).ResultsNine biomarkers differed significantly between dengue fever and leptospirosis, with higher levels of Angptl3, IL-18BP, IP-10/CXCL10, Platelet Factor 4, sICAM-1, Factor D, sEng and sKDR in dengue and higher levels of sTie-2 in leptospirosis (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). Two biomarkers, sEng and IL18BP, showed excellent discriminatory ability (AUROC >0.90). When incorporated into multivariable models, sEng and IL18BP improved the diagnostic accuracy of clinical information alone.ConclusionsThese results suggest that host biomarkers may have utility in differentiating between dengue and leptospirosis, clinically similar conditions of different etiology.
Project description:BackgroundReports of leptospirosis in horses are limited.ObjectivesTo describe the clinical and diagnostic findings of acute systemic leptospirosis in horses.AnimalsEleven client-owned horses presented to an equine hospital because of acute onset of disease between 2015 and 2023.MethodsRetrospective case series. Horses diagnosed with leptospirosis by 1 or more of urine PCR, serologic microscopic agglutination test (MAT), and histopathology.ResultsCommon clinical signs included lethargy (10), anorexia (10), fever (9), tachypnea (9), abnormal lung sounds (9), and epistaxis (6). Acute kidney injury was present in all cases. Evidence of pulmonary hemorrhage and liver disease was found in 8 (73%) and 6 (55%) horses, respectively. In 6 (55%) horses, kidneys, lungs, and liver were affected. Urine quantitative polymerase chain reaction for detection of pathogenic Leptospira spp. was positive in 6 (55%) cases. On serology Leptospira interrogans serovar Australis, Autumnalis, and Bratislava accounted for 86% of all titers ≥1 : 800. Overall case fatality rate was 4/11 (36%). Main findings on necropsy were tubular necrosis, interstitial nephritis, hemorrhage in the alveoli, pulmonary edema, periportal hepatitis and necrosis, cholestasis, and cholangitis.Conclusions and clinical importanceLeptospirosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis in horses with evidence of acute systemic inflammation and acute renal injury, epistaxis, or hepatic disease. For increased likelihood of identifying positive cases, both MAT serology and urine PCR should be performed.
Project description:BackgroundLeptospirosis is a worldwide bacterial zoonosis. Outbreaks of leptospirosis after heavy rainfall and flooding have been reported. However, few studies have formally quantified the effect of weather factors on leptospirosis incidence. We estimated the association between rainfall and leptospirosis cases in an urban setting in Manila, the Philippines, and examined the potential intermediate role of floods in this association.Methods/principal findingsRelationships between rainfall and the weekly number of hospital admissions due to leptospirosis from 2001 to 2012 were analyzed using a distributed lag non-linear model in a quasi-Poisson regression framework, controlling for seasonally varying factors other than rainfall. The role of floods on the rainfall-leptospirosis relationship was examined using an indicator. We reported relative risks (RRs) by rainfall category based on the flood warning system in the country. The risk of post-rainfall leptospirosis peaked at a lag of 2 weeks (using 0 cm/week rainfall as the reference) with RRs of 1.30 (95% confidence interval: 0.99-1.70), 1.53 (1.12-2.09), 2.45 (1.80-3.33), 4.61 (3.30-6.43), and 13.77 (9.10-20.82) for light, moderate, heavy, intense and torrential rainfall (at 2, 5, 16, 32 and 63 cm/week), respectively. After adjusting for floods, RRs (at a lag of 2 weeks) decreased at higher rainfall levels suggesting that flood is on the causal pathway between rainfall and leptospirosis.ConclusionsRainfall was strongly associated with increased hospital admission for leptospirosis at a lag of 2 weeks, and this association was explained in part by floods.
Project description:BackgroundLeptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Humans are infected by exposure to animal urine or urine-contaminated environments. Although disease incidence is lower in Europe compared with tropical regions, there have been reports of an increase in leptospirosis cases since the 2000s in some European countries.AimWe aimed to describe the epidemiology of reported cases of leptospirosis in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) during 2010-2021 and to identify potential changes in epidemiological patterns.MethodsWe ran a descriptive analysis of leptospirosis cases reported by EU/EEA countries to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control with disease during 2010-2021. We also analysed trends at EU/EEA and national level.ResultsDuring 2010-2021, 23 countries reported 12,180 confirmed leptospirosis cases corresponding to a mean annual notification rate of 0.24 cases per 100,000 population. Five countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania) accounted for 79% of all reported cases. The highest notification rate was observed in Slovenia with 0.82 cases per 100,000 population. Overall, the notification rate increased by 5.0% per year from 2010 to 2021 (95% CI: 1.2-8.8%), although trends differed across countries.ConclusionThe notification rate of leptospirosis at EU/EEA level increased during 2010-2021 despite including the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated changes in population behaviours. Studies at (sub)national level would help broaden the understanding of differences at country-level and specificities in terms of exposure to Leptospira, as well as biases in diagnosis and reporting.
Project description:Major clusters of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) emerged during the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks in the South Pacific and the Americas from 2014 to 2016. The factors contributing to GBS susceptibility in ZIKV infection remain unclear, although considerations of viral variation, patient susceptibility, environmental influences, and other potential factors have been hypothesized. Studying the role of viral genetic factors has been challenging due to the low viral load and rapid viral clearance from the blood after the onset of Zika symptoms. The prolonged excretion of ZIKV in urine by the time of GBS onset, when the virus is no longer present in the blood, provides an opportunity to unravel whether specific ZIKV mutations are related to the development of GBS in certain individuals. This study aimed to investigate the association between specific ZIKV genotypes and the development of GBS, taking advantage of a unique collection of ZIKV-positive urine samples obtained from GBS cases and controls during the 2016 ZIKV outbreak in Colombia. Utilizing Oxford-Nanopore technology, we conducted complete genome sequencing of ZIKV in biological samples from 15 patients with GBS associated with ZIKV and 17 with ZIKV infection without neurological complications. ZIKV genotypes in Colombia exhibited distribution across three clades (average bootstrap of 90.9±14.9%), with two clades dominating the landscape. A comparative analysis of ZIKV genomes from GBS and non-neurological complications, alongside 1368 previously reported genomes, revealed no significant distinctions between the two groups. Both genotypes were similarly distributed among observed clades in Colombia. Furthermore, no variations were identified in the amino acid composition of the viral genome between the two groups. Our findings suggest that GBS in ZIKV infection is perhaps associated with patient susceptibility and/or other para- or post-infectious immune-mediated mechanisms rather than with specific ZIKV genome variations.
Project description:The region of Antioquia in northeastern Colombia has the highest number of reported leptospirosis cases in the country. It also shows high seroprevalence indexes in the general population and socio-environmental conditions favourable for the transmission of the disease between humans and animals. In this study, 25 Leptospira isolates from Colombia's Antioquia department were identified to the species level as L. santarosai (12), L. interrogans (9) and L. meyeri (4) using phylogenetic analysis of the Amidohydrolase gene. Typing at the serovar level was performed using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and monoclonal antibodies. The serovars Canalzonae, Babudieri, Alice, Beye, and Copenhageni have been identified as causing human or animal infections in Antioquia, Colombia. The four environmental isolates were not identified to the serovar level. L. santarosai serovar Canalzonae and Alice were identified as new etiologic agents of human leptospirosis in Antioquia, Colombia. This paper reports species and serovars that were previously unknown in the region.