Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a direct zoonotic disease caused by spirochetes belonging to the genus Leptospira. Many animals act as carriers or vectors. Human infection results from accidental contact with carrier animals or environment contaminated with animal urine containing the organism. Epidemics of leptospirosis result from poor sanitation in urban areas and are aggravated following natural calamities. The majority of leptospiral infections are either subclinical or result in very mild illness and patients recover without complications. In a few cases it may manifest as multiorgan failure where the mortality can go up to 40%. Infection in pregnant women may be grave leading to severe fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. The presentation may mimic other viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections, acute fatty liver, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and HELLP syndrome. Owing to the unusual presentation, leptospirosis in pregnancy is often misdiagnosed and under-reported. Preventive public education regarding hygiene, personal practices, source reduction, environmental sanitation, early diagnosis, and treatment of the condition are needed to avoid perinatal and maternal mortality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Vijayachari P, Sugunan AP, Shriram AN (2008) Leptospirosis: an emerging global public health problem. J Biosci 33:557–569

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. World Health Organisation (2001) Waterborne diseases. http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/leptospirosis/en/print.html. Accessed 6 March 2010

  3. Chedraui PA, Miguel GS (2003) A case of leptospirosis and pregnancy. Arch Gynecol Obstet 269:53–54

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. World Health Organization-International Leptospirosis Society (2003) Human leptospirosis: Guidance for diagnosis, surveillance and control. http://www.leptonet.net/assets/images/LeptoGuidelines_Print_version_19May03.pdf Accessed 6 March 2010

  5. Sethi S, Sharma N, Kakkar N et al (2010) Increasing trends of leptospirosis in northern India: a clinico-epidemiological study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 4(1):e579

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Levett NP (2001) Leptospirosis. Clin Microbiol Rev 14:296–326

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Guerra MA (2009) Leptospirosis. J Am Vet Med Assoc 234:472

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. World Health Organization (2010) Initiative for Vaccine Research (IVR). Leptospirosis. http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/leptospirosis/en. Accessed 8 March 2010

  9. Chaudhry R, Premlatha MM, Mohanty S, Dhawan B, Singh KK, Dey AB (2002) Emerging leptospirosis, North India. Emerg Infect Dis 8:1526–1527

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Debnath C, Pal NK, Pramanik AK, Biswas M (2005) A serological study of leptospirosis among hospitalized jaundice patients in and around Kolkata. Indian J Med Microbiol 23:68–69

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Nally JE, Chantranuwat C, Wu XY et al (2004) Alveolar septal deposition of immunoglobulin and complement parallels pulmonary hemorrhage in a guinea pig model of severe pulmonary leptospirosis. Am J Pathol 164(3):1115–1127

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Prasanthie HMM, De Silva KHPUD (2008) A rare complication of leptospirosis: acute pancreatitis. Galle Med J 13:69–70

    Google Scholar 

  13. Yechiel Shaked Y, Shpilberg O, Samra D, Samra Y (1993) Leptospirosis in pregnancy and its effect on the fetus: case report and review. Clin Infect Dis 17:241–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Aker N, James BE, Johnston AM, Pasvol G (1996) Leptospirosis in pregnancy: an unusual and relatively unrecognised cause of intrauterine death in man. J Obstet Gynaecol 16:163–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gaspari R, Annetta MG, Cavaliere F et al (2007) Unusual presentation of leptospirosis in the late stage of pregnancy. Minerva Anestesiol 73(7–8):429–432

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Klein VR, Cox SM, Mitchell MD, Wendel GD Jr (1990) The Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction complicating syphilotherapy in pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol 75:375–380

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Martínez R, Pérez A, Quiñones Mdel C, Cruz R, Alvarez A, Armesto M et al (2004) Efficacy and safety of a vaccine against human leptospirosis in Cuba. Rev Panam Salud Publ 15:249–255

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Puliyath.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Puliyath, G., Singh, S. Leptospirosis in pregnancy. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 31, 2491–2496 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-012-1625-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-012-1625-7

Keywords

Navigation