Doc: Leptospirosis harder to diagnose

the star
BY LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: Leptospirosis is posing a challenge to doctors as cases diagnosed these days do not conform to the normal profile, says an infectious diseases physician.

Sungai Buloh Hospital consultant infectious diseases physician Dr Suresh Kumar said doctors were seeing more cases of leptospirosis among urban folk who had not visited any waterfall or flood areas.

“The symptoms are also difficult to diagnose as it can range from mild fever to bleeding in the lungs and pneumonia, different from the well-known symptoms of jaundice and renal failure,” he said in an interview.

Dr Suresh who presented a paper on tropical infections in Malaysia at an annual scientific conference yesterday, said 7,806 cases of leptospirosis with 92 deaths were reported nationwide last year.

Getting the infection diagnosed, he said, was challenging as patients tended not to return to hospital for the second blood test after they felt better.

Two blood tests were needed to diagnose leptospirosis – one during hospital examination and the other, a week after patients recovered, he said.

For this reason, hospital staff had to go to their houses to take the second blood sample for testing, he said, adding that the infection tend to be under diagnosed because most common antibiotics were able to treat it without any blood samples taken.

“We don’t really know the true burden of the disease,” he said adding that more research needed to be done in this area.

Dr Suresh also expressed concern that out of the 485 pertussis cases (whooping cough), 82% of infants below one year were diagnosed last year.

“It is dangerous for the infants because they could suffer from breathlessness and lung and bleeding problems,” he said.

The people suspected of transmitting the bacteria to infants were caregivers such as parents, grandparents and domestic helpers.

“Caregivers need to get a booster jab against the disease so that they do not spread it to babies,” Dr Suresh said.

The Health Ministry, he said, was looking into whether the booster jab should be given to pregnant mothers who could transmit the antibody to the foetus.