EDUCATING ONESELF ABOUT THE EPIDEMIC LEPTOSPIROSIS

During rainy seasons, many cases of infection diseases are listed on health centers and hospitals. Leptospirosis may include on the list.

This article is intended to create awareness of the disease, identify those who are at risk and how it is transmitted so that necessary precautionary and preventive measures are done to reduce its impact and treated as soon as possible by the health care provider.

Let us look into what actually is leptospirosis. Leptospires, a bacterium that causes an infectious disease called leptospirosis. It occurs worldwide but is common in the tropical and subtropical regions with high rainfall. The disease may occur throughout the whole year. Epidemics may be associated with man’s actions toward his surroundings, animal, and sewage contamination of water and changes in the habitat of animal carriers and occurrence of natural disasters. According to World Health Organization, incidence range from 0.1 to one per 100,000 per year in regions with temperate climates and 10 to 100 per 100,000 per year in the humid tropics.

Leptospirosis can be transmitted directly or indirectly from animals to man. It lives and multiplies in the kidneys of the carriers such as the rats, domestic animals like pigs, dogs, cattle, goats, horses, and buffalos. Reptiles and amphibians may also carry leptospires. The animal carriers may shed leptospires for months and years in the urine contaminating moist soil. nesting, foraging areas, farm places, and sources of drinking water and irrigation systems. The disease is found mainly wherever humans come into contact with the urine of the infected animals or in urine polluted environment. Handling infected animal tissues and ingestion of diseased food and drinking water is another mode of transmission. It may also pass on between farm animals trough congenital or neonatal infection. Sexual transfers like the mating of rats, cattle, or pigs are also a possibility.

Leptospirosis can gain entry into a man through cuts and abrasions in the skin while wading in floodwaters teeming with leptospires. It may occasionally enter the body through the nose by inhaling infected droplets of urine. Leptospirosis can be passing on from human to human although rarely through sexual contact, transplacentally from the mother to the fetus, and breastfeeding of the child.

Here in our place, there are certain groups of people that are more likely to be exposed due to the nature of their work, type of recreation, social activities they are engaged in, and the living conditions of the people. That is, the level of hygiene in the home, sanitary conditions, and the environment itself.

The people who are at risk of this disease are:

• Vegetable gardeners- who may be exposed to the infected rats and other animal carriers, those in contact with the contaminated water used to irrigate the fields, and those who go barefoot when gardening;
• Those who tend to the pigs or those who are in close contact with animals like herding cattle;
• People involved in the preparation of food (cook, ambulant vendors, and bakers) where hygienic measures are not properly observed;
• Children wading or bathing in infested water and playing or walking through contaminated soil or mud;
• Sewer workers and street cleaners who are exposed to sewage-contaminated by rat urines;
• Miners, soldiers, hunters, and hikers who are walking through animal urine-contaminated soil, muds, and swamps;
• Abattoir workers like the butchers when slaughtering infected animals and handling infected carcasses or organs like kidney;
• Veterinarians and pet keepers who may be exposed to infected animals that are ill or have died;
• Health workers involved in the diagnosis of the disease;
• Entire community when exposed to drinking water which is inadequately treated; and
• People who are participating in recreational and outdoor activities like golf, swimming, athletics, and batted balls.

Leptospirosis can be prevented and controlled at the source of infection, at the transmission route, and at the level of the human host. We should observe strictly cleanliness in our homes and our surroundings so that rats and other animal carriers will be kept away. Infected animals like pigs, dogs, and cattle should be isolated and treated to control leptospiral shedding or better slaughter or killed and disposed of properly away from sources of drinking water and away from places where people are going and living. Rats must be poisoned or trapped, and ensure rodent proof homes and buildings. Proper disposal of the wastes of domestic animals and vaccination of pets and farm animals is also another way to prevent the disease.

Transmission can be prevented by washing thoroughly after exposure to urine splashes or contaminated soil and water; wearing of proper protective gears when handling urine, waste of animals or while nursing; feeding seek animals, washing, cleaning wounds, and covering skin with waterproof dressing; and disinfecting contaminated areas like scrubbing floors.

Butcheries or abattoirs, making signage or warnings on suspected bodies of water teeming with leptospires.

Intensive information and education campaign on the ways by which the disease can be prevented and keeping the surroundings clean are also needed.

Let us look into a clean environment and be responsible enough for the sake of a healthy place to live.