Disease relevance of Leptospirosis

• METHODS: Active surveillance for leptospirosis was established in an infectious-disease referral hospital in Salvador, Brazil, between March 10 and Nov 2, 1996 [1].
• We are reporting a patient with acute leptospirosis whose creatinine phosphokinase was markedly elevated secondary to an associated myositis [2].
• Several serovars of Leptospira virulent for hamsters and guinea pigs caused acute lethal leptospirosis in mice immunosuppressed with cyclophosphamide [3].
• We studied a group of six recombinant T. pallidum antigens for their sensitivities and specificities with sera from individuals with syphilis (n = 43), relapsing fever (n = 8), Lyme disease (n = 8), and leptospirosis (n = 9) and from uninfected individuals (n = 15) [4].
• The recombinant PHA showed no cross-reactions with sera obtained from other febrile patients with diseases such as murine typhus, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and leptospirosis [5].

High impact information on Leptospirosis

• Prophylaxis against leptospirosis with doxycycline [6].
• These data provide a basis for understanding the innate immune response caused by leptospirosis and demonstrate a new ligand specificity for TLR2 [7].
• Serum creatine phosphokinase in leptospirosis [8].
• Urban epidemic of severe leptospirosis in Brazil. Salvador Leptospirosis Study Group [1].
• Polymerase chain reaction can quickly establish the diagnosis of leptospirosis and is useful for epidemiologic study [9].

Chemical compound and disease context of Leptospirosis

• In patients presenting with acute hepatitis, an elevated creatinine phosphokinase should suggest the diagnosis of leptospirosis [2].
• In two patients with illnesses resembling leptospirosis, jaundice appeared on the sixth and ninth day of illness, and peak bilirubin levels were between 7 and 9 mg/100 ml [10].
• Leptospirosis in "Eco-Challenge" athletes, Malaysian Borneo, 2000 [11].
• Cefotaxime for therapy of acute leptospirosis [12].
• Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a key antigen in immunity to leptospirosis [13].

Biological context of Leptospirosis

• Diagnosis of leptospirosis is usually accomplished by serology, but the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) generally requires paired sera for detection of seroconversion and is considered too complex for routine use [14].
• Considering the wide distribution of fibronectin within a host and the diversity of mammals involved in the epidemiology of leptospirosis, its implication in the cell attachment process of virulent leptospires is coherent with the multiplicity of target cells [15].
• The results of animal studies, the susceptibility of LC0475 and the five other isolates to doxycycline in vitro, and lack of evidence for antibiotic resistance in culture suggests this antibiotic may be useful as a prophylactic drug for high risk groups and an effective treatment for leptospirosis in Thailand [16].
• In early December 1998, the Northern Rivers Public Health Unit (north-eastern New South Wales) was alerted to a possible cluster of leptospirosis cases by the supervising scientist of the Western Pacific Region World Health Organization/Food and Agricultural Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Leptospirosis [17].

Gene context of Leptospirosis

• Altogether these results highlight important differences between human and mouse specificity in terms of TLR4-MD2 recognition that may have important consequences for leptospiral LPS sensing and subsequent susceptibility to leptospirosis [18].
• AIM: To describe clinical pattern of ARF caused by leptospirosis and its related factors [19].
• CONCLUSION: Although significant correlation cannot be established, we concluded that nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, jaundice, increased ESR and total bilirubin level should alert the physician about the possibility of renal involvement in leptospirosis patients with prolonged fever [19].
• Infected hamster sera and two of eight human leptospirosis sera tested were found to react with recombinant LipL21 [20].
• These data indicate that Hap1 could be a good candidate for developing a new generation of vaccines able to induce broad protection against leptospirosis disease [21].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Leptospirosis

• An efficacy trial of doxycycline chemoprophylaxis against leptospirosis [22].
• In paired sera from 50 cases of leptospirosis confirmed by the microscopic agglutination test, immunoglobulin G (IgG) but not IgM reacted with the recombinant leptospiral proteins [23].
• If a cholecystectomy is performed in febrile patients with suspicious environmental or animal exposure, pathologic studies for leptospirosis on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues may be of great value [24].
• Immunoglobulin G antibodies to the Hsp58 were specifically detected by ELISA in 82% of sera (18/22) from patients with leptospirosis [25].
• Acute pancreatitis associated with leptospirosis was diagnosed, according to abdominal CT scanning and serological tests [26].

References