Cordillera sees 40% rise in leptospirosis cases

Leptospirosis cases in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) increased by 40% for the first six months of this year after 28 more cases were reported compared to 20 during the same period last year, the Department of Health-CAR said.Geeny Anne Austria, Nurse V of DoH-CAR’s regional epidemiology and surveillance unit, said that there was one death from the dreaded infection, similar to the same period last year.Based on data obtained from the unit, the leptospirosis cases were from Benguet with seven or 25% of the total reported cases, Kalinga with five cases or 17.9%, Apayao and Ifugao with three cases each or 3.7%, Baguio City and Mountain Province with one case each or 3.6% and non-CAR provinces with eight or 28.6%.Of the total number of cases, there were 22 males or 78.7% of affected individuals ranging in age from two years to 58 or a median of 34.5 years old.Health authorities explained that leptospirosis belongs to a group of zoonotic bacterial diseases with variable manifestations and is characterised by the sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, severe myalgia (calves and thighs) and conjunctival suffusion.Other manifestations in infected individuals are diphasic fever meningitis, rash (palatal exanthema), hemolytic anaemia, haemorrhage into skin and mucus membranes, hepato-renal failure, jaundice, mental confusion and depression, myocarditis and pulmonary involvement with or without haemorrhage and haemoptysis.The disease may be transmitted through skin contact, especially if abraded, or of mucus membranes with moist soil, vegetation, rice fields, sugar cane plantations contaminated with the urine of infected animals or swimming in contaminated water, wading in cold waters, accidental immersion or occupational abrasion; direct contact with urine or tissues of infected animals; rarely through drinking of water or ingestion of food contaminated with urine of infected animals, often rats, through inhalation of droplets of contaminated fluids. Health officials warned against wading in floodwaters with open wounds. If this cannot be avoided, individuals are advised to make sure that they do not have any open wound to avoid contracting leptospirosis.