What is Leptospirosis? How can you get the disease? – Floyd Batongbakal 3rd yr. Pharmacy
ESPAÑA Boulevard turns into a huge water basin during the rainy season with UST submerged in murky waters. Heavy downpour drowns the campus, converting it into a 22 hectares of “swamp land”, where swims a variety of microbes including the Leptospirosis-causing bacteria.
According to Dr. Dante Lerma of the UST Health Service, Leptospirosis is a disease brought about by the bacteria leptospire in infected urine or feces of vermins, particularly rats lurking the sewers — the perfect carriers of the bacteria. The disease is acquired through open wounds (no matter how minute it is), allowing the entry of bacteria from floodwater. The disease affects the liver and the kidneys, resulting in an overload of work and toxin retention in the liver, causing a hepato-renal shutdown and in rare cases, death may occur. Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, chills, vomiting, jaundice, anemia and sometimes rash, which usually take four to 19 days to develop. Antibiotics such as penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline and erythromycin can treat the disease. Kidney dialysis may be necessary in more serious cases.
When flooding occurs, it is advisable to stay at home. In floods wear boots and repellent coverings. Stephan Earl S. Chow
