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Tissue Engineering and Application in Tropical Medicine
Published in Rajesh K. Kesharwani, Raj K. Keservani, Anil K. Sharma, Tissue Engineering, 2022
Leptospirosis is leptospiral bacterial infection. The pathogen can cause virulent disease. The patient might have acute febrile illness and can have jaundice and renal problem. The mortality in leptospirosis is high in cases with renal failure problem. The pathogen is usually transmitted during the rainy season and common in several developing tropical countries. The role of tissue engineering in management of leptospirosis is limited mentioned. In fact, it might have the role in management of acute renal failure which is an important complication of leptospirosis. The good example is the use of mesenchymal stem cell in management of ischemia in acute renal failure (Hu and Zou, 2017). Hu and Zou (2017) reported that mesenchymal stem cell-based tissue engineering technology is useful for renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in leptospirosis.
Microbiological Hazards
Published in Dag K. Brune, Christer Edling, Occupational Hazards in the Health Professions, 2020
Indirect transmission of leptospirae from animal urine to man is the predominant source of human leptospirosis. The organisms enter the body through abrasions of the skin or through mucous membranes, but may also penetrate intact skin. Direct human-to-human transmission of leptospirae occurs only rarely. However, blood and urine from patients with leptospirosis may be infective and should be handled with blood and body fluid precautions. Laboratory personnel are included among the occupational groups with enhanced risk of leptospirosis.35,53,129 Laboratory workers may acquire the infection either during the handling of specimens from patients or from experimentally or naturally infected laboratory animals.53,130 Pike reported 67 laboratory-associated infections and 10 deaths.35
Biological Hazards
Published in W. David Yates, Safety Professional’s Reference and Study Guide, 2020
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects humans and animals. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. In humans, it causes a wide range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all. Symptoms of leptospirosis include high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash. If the disease is not treated, the patient could develop kidney damage, meningitis (inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), liver failure, and respiratory distress. In rare cases, death occurs.2 Occupations of special interest for leptospirosis include farmers, field workers, sugarcane workers, meatpacking house workers, sewer workers,miners, and military personnel.
Environmental health effects attributed to toxic and infectious agents following hurricanes, cyclones, flash floods and major hydrometeorological events
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2019
Timothy B. Erickson, Julia Brooks, Eric J. Nilles, Phuong N. Pham, Patrick Vinck
Flooding and heavy rainfall have been associated with numerous global outbreaks of leptospirosis (Lau et al. 2010).With climate change, extreme weather events such as cyclones and floods are expected to occur with increasing frequency and greater intensity and consequently resulting in an upsurge in the incidence of leptospirosis outbreaks (Lau et al. 2010). Flooding and exposure to water or mud contaminated with leptospira spirochetes, usually from urine and feces of infected rodents, may also be transmitted by other wild and domestic species such as horses, cattle, dogs and pigs (Socolovschi et al. 2011). Leptospirosis is known to produce systemic illnesses such as renal and hepatic failure, pulmonary hemorrhage and meningitis (Haake and Levett 2015). In a review of the health impacts of floods and storms, Saulnier, Brolin Ribacke, and von Schreeb (2017) found heightened risk of wounds, soft tissue infections and gastrointestinal (GIT) diseases. After flooding, specific GIT infections such as leptospirosis typically rise – mostly within 4–6 weeks of the disaster (Saulnier, Brolin Ribacke, and von Schreeb 2017). Aldermana, Turnera, and Shilu-Tongab (2012) reported that in some settings, mortality rates may increase by up to 50% in the first year after a flood primarily due to infectious outbreaks such as hepatitis, GIT diseases and leptospirosis. An outbreak attributed to systemic infections initiated by leptospirosis recently resulted in 26 fatalities over a 6-month period following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (Cook 2018a).
Detection of pathogenic Leptospira in ornamental water fountains from urban sites in Cali, Colombia
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2019
Kevin Escandón-Vargas, Javier Andrés Bustamante-Rengifo, Miryam Astudillo-Hernández
Leptospirosis is a zoonosis with global distribution particularly affecting tropical countries and resource-poor communities, caused by species of the spirochete genus Leptospira. Thirty-five species (13 pathogenic, 11 intermediate, and 11 saprophytic) have been described to date (Bourhy et al. 2014; Lehmann et al. 2014; Thibeaux et al. 2018). While the pathogenic and the intermediate Leptospira species are considered the infectious group capable of causing disease in humans and animals, the saprophytic species are considered environmental bacteria that do not cause disease. Infection occurs either by direct contact with urine of reservoir animals or indirectly via contaminated water or moist soil. The leptospiral carriage in animal reservoirs’ renal tubules leads to urinary shedding of leptospires in the environment (Levett 2001; Bharti et al. 2003). Pathogenic Leptospira enter the body via cut or abraded skin, and mucous membranes.