Clinical and Epidemiological Status of Leptospirosis in a Tropical Caribbean Area of Colombia

OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyze the clinical and epidemiological status in 28 confirmed cases of human leptospirosis at the main public hospital of Cordoba. METHODS: Between 2012 and 2013, we conducted an active surveillance at the main hospital of Cordoba to establish the etiologic diagnosis of the undifferentiated tropical febrile illness (UTFI) cases. UTFI is defined as a fever without an infection focus in the initial physical examination or in basic laboratory tests. Patients in acute phase were accompanied by prodromal symptoms, including myalgia, arthralgia, headache, asthenia, chills, icterus, dyspnea, abdominal pain, rash, and nausea. Samples were collected on admission and at discharge. Clinical and epidemiological data were collected for each patient. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was performed. RESULTS: The 28 leptospirosis cases presented the following gender distribution: male (n=24) and female (n=4). The duration of hospitalization was 10.39 days. The main symptoms and clinical manifestations were fever, headache and nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, all of which occurred in up to 60% of patients. Of the 28 cases studied, 4 were fatal. The most frequent infecting serogroups were Ballum and Canicola. CONCLUSION: Leptospirosis is a common cause of undifferentiated tropical febrile illness in Colombia; it is important to establish ongoing and accurate surveillance for acute febrile illness to facilitate the detection of cases of leptospirosis.