Department of Cardiology, Hillingdon Hospital, Pield Heath Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3NN, UK.
QJM. 2012 Dec;105(12):1151-62. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcs145. Epub 2012 Jul 27.
The recent high-profile death of a British Olympic rower from leptospirosis has raised awareness to this uncommon but potentially fatal disease. The re-emergence of the disease abroad is well documented in the literature, but less is known about cases in the UK. The increase in participation in water sports, foreign travel and often a combination of the two, has increased the exposure of tourists subsequently returning to the UK from areas of high prevalence. Leptospirosis is a zoonotic infection. The bacteria are shed in the urine of animals to the environment from where humans are infected by incidental hosts. There is a wide spectrum of severity of symptoms, from a self-limiting febrile illness to fatal pulmonary haemorrhage, renal or liver failure. It is thought that cases remain unrecognized every year in the UK, largely due to the mild nature of symptoms and the wide differential for febrile illness and partly due to lack of awareness among clinicians. This review examines the epidemiology of leptospirosis in the UK, over the period 2006-10, the clinical features, diagnostic techniques and treatment.
最近，一位英国奥运赛艇运动员因钩端螺旋体病去世，这引起了人们对这种不常见但可能致命的疾病的关注。这种疾病在国外的再次出现已在文献中得到充分记录，但在英国的病例却知之甚少。参与水上运动和出国旅行的人数增加，而且通常两者兼而有之，这增加了从高流行地区返回英国的游客的暴露风险。钩端螺旋体病是一种人畜共患感染。细菌从动物尿液中排放到环境中，人类通过偶然宿主感染。其症状严重程度范围很广，从轻症发热到致命性肺出血、肾功能衰竭或肝功能衰竭都有。据认为，英国每年仍有未被识别的病例，主要是由于症状轻微，发热性疾病的鉴别诊断广泛，部分原因是临床医生缺乏认识。本文回顾了 2006 年至 2010 年期间英国钩端螺旋体病的流行病学、临床表现、诊断技术和治疗方法。
