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In March-April 1998 in a neighborhood in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, there was an outbreak of an acute disease characterized by fever, headaches, and intense myalgias. This article presents the studies surrounding this outbreak and the attempts to identify the source and the mode of transmission. The epidemiological, serological, and clinical findings indicated that the causative agent was Leptospira interrogans. As a screening test, macroscopic agglutination with heat-resistant antigen was applied, followed by the ELISA test, and, as a confirmatory test, microscopic agglutination for 10 serotypes of L. interrogans. The study covered 32 persons, 8 dogs, and 8 water samples. Among the 32 persons, 12 cases were confirmed, 2 were suspicious, and 18 were negative. Six dogs were found to be infected, and motile spirochetes were found in the water samples. The human sera reacted with the ballum, canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae, and pyrogenes serotypes; the canine sera reacted with the ballum, canicola, and pomona serotypes. The coagglutination found in all the confirmed cases indicates that they were acute cases of leptospirosis, but it was impossible to identify the causal serotype. Except for the index case, the disease was not recognized clinically. Several facts suggest that the outbreak was caused by rain that had flooded the study area. The results of this study emphasize the need for active surveillance of leptospirosis when there are floods and other natural disasters.

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Low back pain (LBP) is the most common cause of pain in adults and the second health condition that prompts patients to seek ambulatory medical care visits. To analyse the impact of LBP on hospitalisations in healthcare facilities within the official subsector in Argentina between 2006 and 2010. Discharges in which the original diagnosis had been either adult LBP or lumbosciatica were assessed. The data comprised age, gender, province of residence, average length of stay (LOS) in the hospital, intra-hospital death, and the Provincial Human Development Index (PHDI). 17,859 discharges had an original diagnosis of LBP and 10,948 of lumbosciatica, which jointly accounted for 18.7 % of all the discharges documented for Diseases of Osteomuscular System and Connective Tissue (DOMS). Hospital discharges of female patients represented 53.7 %. The average age upon admission was 47.7 years in men versus 47.9 in women. The average LOS was slightly higher in men (4.2 vs. 3.8 days, p 0.01). In provinces with a PHDI below the national average, a surgical procedure was performed in 3.1 % of the discharges versus 4.1 % in the provinces with a PHDI above the national average (p < 0.001). LBP was the most frequent cause of hospitalisation due to DOMS. It occurred with a slightly higher frequency in women and prompted short hospitalisations. A surgical procedure was carried out during hospitalisation in very few cases, but the percentage of surgeries during hospitalisation was higher in provinces with a PHDI above the national average.

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