Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that lasts almost a week in infected individuals. The disease is very unpleasant but not life-threatening. In most cases, the patients initially get better and feel they are recovering finally. However, the patient’s condition worsens once again. The bacterium which causes Leptospirosis is Leptospira interrogans. The organism resides inside the body of many animals and infects the kidneys of the hosts. These animals, when urinate, cause the spread of Leptospirosis bacteria in the soil and water.
Transmission and contraction of the disease
The main reasons for the spread or transmission of Leptospirosis are unhygienic lifestyle. The usual transmission mode is from infected individuals to healthy individuals or from infected pets to healthy persons. If healthy individual touches or comes in direct contact with infected tissue or organ, the chances of contracting Leptospirosis become manifold.
As Leptospira is excreted through the urine, the animals or infected individuals usually spread it by urinating in the open air. For example, animals might urinate in the soil or fields, which farmers later handle. Similarly, the individuals who work on the farm and urinate in the open-air increase the chance of spreading the bacteria to the other individuals.
Improper handling of the urine samples of infected individuals is often a way of spreading the disease. Urinary samples are usually dealt with within the clinical and laboratory settings, so the healthcare workers are susceptible to them. Another method of transmission is infected swimming pools. When the pool water is not drained and refilled regularly, the chances are that the infected animals, especially dogs, might pass urine into the pools, which swimmers then use. This reason has been known to increase the number of cases of Leptospirosis infections.
