Leptospirosis

• Contact with water or soil containing urine or body fluids from infected animals, especially after hurricanes, flooding, or heavy rainfall
• Directly touching body fluids from an infected animal
• Eating food or drinking water contaminated by the urine of an infected animal

Activities that put you at risk

If you’re involved in activities that put you in contact with water, soil or animals, you may be at increased risk for infection. These activities include:

• Water recreation like swimming, kayaking, canoeing, or rafting in rivers, swamps, or creeks
• Hiking or hunting
• Gardening, yardwork, and outdoor cleaning and maintenance
• Jobs like working at a veterinary clinic, dairy farming, or butchering

In people, leptospirosis can cause a wide range of symptoms, including:

Many of these symptoms can be mistaken for other diseases. Some people have no symptoms.

It generally takes 2-30 days to get sick after having contact with the bacteria that cause leptospirosis. The disease may occur in two phases:

• In the first phase, people may have fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, vomiting, or diarrhea. The person may feel better for a while but become ill again.
• Some people may suffer a more severe second phase with kidney or liver failure, or inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord (meningitis).

The illness can last from a few days to several weeks. Without treatment, getting better may take several months.

Leptospirosis is diagnosed by special blood tests and can be treated with specific antibiotics.

Without treatment, leptospirosis in people can lead to kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, trouble breathing, and even death.