Leptospirosis: a Global Health Burden in Review

Dunay, Stephen N; Bass, John B.; Stremick, Justine

doi:10.4172/2165-7548.1000336

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…High-risk groups vary by location and include people that are in contact with livestock, e.g., farmers and meat workers, people in contact with rodents, e.g., sewage workers, rice paddy workers, subsistence farmers and urban slum dwellers, people involved in water-based recreational activities and people affected by extreme weather events, such as flooding [ 4 ]. The burden of disease is often higher in tropical regions with incidence greater than 10/100,000 compared to temperate countries where incidences range between 0.1–10/100,000 [ 11 ]. A systematic review of studies from 1970 to 2008 revealed highest estimates for leptospirosis morbidity and mortality in Oceania, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, East Sub-Saharan Africa and Andean, Central, and Tropical Latin America [ 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse Epidemiology of Leptospira Serovars Notified in New Zealand, 1999–2017

et al. 2020

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Leptospirosis in New Zealand has been strongly associated with animal-contact occupations and with serovars Hardjo and Pomona. However, recent data suggest changes in these patterns, hence, serovar-specific epidemiology of leptospirosis from 1999 to 2017 was investigated. The 19-year average annual incidence is 2.01/100,000. Early (1999–2007) and late (2008–2017) study period comparisons showed a significant increase in notifications with serovar Ballum (IRR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.22–2.09) in all cases and serovar Tarassovi (IRR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.13–2.78) in Europeans and a decrease in notifications with serovars Hardjo and Pomona in all cases. Incidences of Ballum peaked in winter, Hardjo peaked in spring and Tarassovi peaked in summer. Incidence was highest in Māori (2.24/100,000) with dominant serovars being Hardjo and Pomona. Stratification by occupation showed meat workers had the highest incidence of Hardjo (57.29/100,000) and Pomona (45.32/100,000), farmers had the highest incidence of Ballum (11.09/100,000) and dairy farmers had the highest incidence of Tarassovi (12.59/100,000). Spatial analysis showed predominance of Hardjo and Pomona in Hawke’s Bay, Ballum in West Coast and Northland and Tarassovi in Waikato, Taranaki and Northland. This study highlights the serovar-specific heterogeneity of human leptospirosis in New Zealand that should be considered when developing control and prevention strategies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diverse Epidemiology of Leptospira Serovars Notified in New Zealand, 1999–2017

et al. 2020

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“…Moreover, it should be highlighted that even now leptospirosis is underdiagnosed in many countries, Vietnam included. Due to significant polymorphism of its clinical course and shortcomings in laboratory diagnostics, leptospirosis is often misdiagnosed as some other febrile illnesses such as dengue, scrub typhus, or chikungunya [30,32,38,65]. In Vietnam, nationwide reporting on infectious diseases is carried out by the General Department of Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health.…”

Section: Leptospirosis In Humansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leptospirosis in Vietnam

Токаревич

Blinova

2022

Russian Journal of Infection and Immunity

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Leptospirosis poses a serious public health problem in many countries because about 1 million people suffer annually from this severe, often fatal, infection. At present, its importance has been increasing due to development of integration processes, globalization and intensification of economic activities, inevitable anthropogenic transformation of landscapes as well as rise in number of people with occupational risk of pathogen exposure. The burden of human leptospirosis is expected to rise with demographic shifts and climate change that result in heavy rainfall and flooding. Regarding leptospirosis, Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, is among the most vulnerable global regions. The objective of the review was to analyze available published data on the spread of leptospirosis in Vietnam. More than 100 research articles were analyzed allowing to state that in Vietnam synanthropic rodents (rats), agricultural (buffaloes, cattle, pigs) and domestic animals (cats, dogs) are the main sources of leptospirosis infection in humans. It is essential that rats (cats and dogs also) in Vietnam are used for food. Among all farm animals, pigs are of maximal importance as a source of infection in humans. In Vietnam, Leptospira prevalence in pigs varies widely, up to 73%. It depends significantly on the location, farm size, age and gender of animals, etc. A large variety of Leptospira serovars have been identified in pigs in Vietnam: Tarassovi, Bratislava, Australis, Javanica, Autumnalis, Grippotyphosa, and some others. Official Vietnam reporting of leptospirosis cases based on clinical data does not reflect the real-life incidence rate in humans. However, the available seroprevalence studies reveal that, on average, about 10% of the Vietnamese population are infected with Leptospira. Work in agriculture is the dominant risk factor for acquiring this infection. The highest Leptospira seroprevalence rates were detected in farmers, 63.2%. Serovar diversity is typical for pathogenic Leptospira circulating in Vietnam. In humans, the most frequent are antibodies to Hebdomadis, Wolffi and Icterohaemorrhagiae, but the frequency varied markedly across the country depending on the site, possibly with relation to the environment, as well as with economic activity of the local population. In Vietnam, geographic, climatic and social differences between northern, central and southern regions contribute to the specificity of local leptospirosis epidemiology. This emphasizes the advisability of developing special measures for leptospirosis prevention taking into account regional peculiarities.

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“…For instance, in the protein-based diagnosis of Dengue, the type 1 non-structural protein (NS1) is highly specific and detectable in serum from the first day after fever onset, whereas the sensitivity of specific IgM increases after the first few days 12,21 . For Leptospirosis, despite the low sensitivity, PCR-based methods are more useful for early diagnosis than the gold standard protein-based microscopic agglutination test 35 .…”

Section: Rapid Diagnostic Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenge of diagnosing acute infections in poor resource settings in Africa

Chidzwondo

Mutapi

2021

Open Res Africa

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Frequent disease outbreaks and acute infections occur in rural and low-income urban areas of Africa, with many health systems unprepared to diagnose and control diseases that are recurrent, endemic or have extended their geographic zone. In this review, we focus on acute infections that can be characterized by sudden onset, rapid progression, severe symptoms and poor prognosis. Consequently, these infections require early diagnosis and intervention. While effective vaccines have been developed against some of these diseases, lack of compliance and accessibility, and the need for repeated or multiple vaccinations mean large populations can remain vulnerable to infection. It follows that there is a need for enhancement of national surveillance and diagnostic capacity to avert morbidity and mortality from acute infections. We discuss the limitations of traditional diagnostic methods and explore the relative merits and applicability of protein-, carbohydrate- and nucleic acid-based rapid diagnostic tests that have been trialled for some infectious diseases. We also discuss the utility and limitations of antibody-based serological diagnostics and explore how systems biology approaches can better inform diagnosis. Lastly, given the complexity and high cost associated with after-service support of emerging technologies, we propose that, for resource-limited settings in Africa, multiplex point-of-care diagnostic tools be tailor-made to detect both recurrent acute infections and endemic infections.

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Leptospirosis: a Global Health Burden in Review

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

Diverse Epidemiology of Leptospira Serovars Notified in New Zealand, 1999–2017

Diverse Epidemiology of Leptospira Serovars Notified in New Zealand, 1999–2017

Leptospirosis in Vietnam

Challenge of diagnosing acute infections in poor resource settings in Africa

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