CHENNAI: Though leptospirosis is a common bacterial disease with a well-known treatment regimen, improper diagnosis can result in death. Leptospirosis can sometimes be mistaken for jaundice or the person may suffer headache, fever, vomiting and gastroenteritis. The disease could cause fall in blood platelet count. The damage can be detected only by scanning.

Leptospires damage the endothelial lining of capillaries resulting in internal bleeding and the thrombocyte (platelet) count could be as low as 50,000 leading to death. Normal platelet count is 1.5 lakh to 3 lakh per cubic mm. Administering high doses of penicillin can improve the count within 10 days. A three-year clinical study of human leptospirosis in the city found that 37 per cent of the 165 samples tested for thrombocytopaenia (fall in platelet count).

Often the symptoms of leptospirosis are confused with dengue, malaria and typhoid, says Mohamed Ghouse, who conducted the study. Immediately after flooding, there will be a rise in water-borne and not vector-borne diseases, he says. "Without treating for leptospirosis, you cannot give blood platelets. Jaundice is a symptom of the disease."

In his laboratory in R.A. Puram, he received samples of a person who had been treated for jaundice for four years by various doctors with little success. "I have never seen a person with leptospirosis for four years," Dr. Ghouse says. When the man, who showed symptoms of jaundice, did not respond to treatment for jaundice, the doctor, on an impulse, sent his blood to Dr. Ghouse's laboratory for testing. He was diagnosed with leptospirosis.

Dr. Ghouse and M.G. Mohamed Ali who conducted the study found that death occurred because the disease was not treated. Also, most doctors lack facilities to confirm their diagnosis. Dr. Ghouse can be contacted at 24935342.

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