{"id":14888,"date":"2026-08-03T10:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T04:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=14888"},"modified":"2026-08-03T11:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T05:36:06","slug":"leptospirosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/leptospirosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Leptospirosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Leptospirosis Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leptospirosis, which began to be reported in Kerala since 1989, has been endemic in the State for the past three decades or more and has now become the communicable disease with the highest mortality profile.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Leptospirosis<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>flu-like bacterial disease<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that <\/span><b>affects <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">both<\/span><b> humans and animals.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is caused by the <\/span><b>bacterium Leptospira<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that can be<\/span><b> found in contaminated water or soil.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a<\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/zoonotic-diseases\/\" target=\"_blank\"> zoonotic disease<\/a>. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means it\u2019s transmitted between animals and humans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Leptospirosis <\/b><b>Transmission<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Contact with water or soil containing urine <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or <\/span><b>body fluids from infected animals, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">especially after hurricanes, flooding, or heavy rainfall.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Directly touching body fluids from an infected animal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Eating food or drinking water contaminated by the urine<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of an infected animal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>bacteria enter <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the body through c<\/span><b>uts or abrasions on the skin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or through the <\/span><b>mucous membranes of the mouth, nose<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and eyes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Person-to-person transmission<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><b>rare<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Leptospirosis <\/b><b>High Risk Groups<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leptospirosis has a<\/span><b> global distribution<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but is most <\/span><b>common in tropical and subtropical regions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where <\/span><b>warm temperatures, high humidity, and heavy rainfall<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> favor the survival of Leptospira bacteria.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>People who work outdoors,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> such as those engaged in hiking, gardening, outdoor cleaning and maintenance, or handling animals, as well as <\/span><b>people who participate in outdoor water sports<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like swimming or wading in contaminated lakes and rivers, are at higher risks of the disease.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Leptospirosis <\/b><b>Symptoms<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Common symptoms include <\/span><b>high fever, severe headache, chills<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, muscle aches, and vomiting.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other symptoms, including <\/span><b>jaundice, red eyes,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> abdominal pain, diarrhoea, or rash, may also occur.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Without treatment, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leptospirosis in people can <\/span><b>lead to kidney damage, meningitis <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(inflammation of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord), <\/span><b>liver failure, trouble breathing, and even death.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Leptospirosis <\/b><b>Treatment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is treated with <\/span><b>antibiotics<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as <\/span><b>doxycycline or penicillin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Intravenous (IV) antibiotic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s may be needed for people who have more <\/span><b>severe <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leptospirosis symptoms. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News<\/b><strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/kerala\/why-is-kerala-facing-high-leptospirosis-mortality-explained\/article71293783.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease caused by Leptospira, spreading through skin cuts. Common in warm, humid regions, it can cause severe organ damage if untreated. Read more about Leptospirosis, Causes, Treatment, Transmission, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":51909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1040,21,22,23],"class_list":["post-14888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-leptospirosis","tag-prelims-pointers","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116750,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14888\/revisions\/116750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}