Estudio seroepidemiológico de la leptospirosis humana en el departamento del Valle del Cauca, Colombia Seroepidemiological situation of human leptospirosis in Valle del Cauca, Colombia

OBJECTIVE: to serologically confirm the occurrence of human leptospirosis in presumptive cases from the department of Valle del Cauca in Colombia, to study clinical-epidemiological data associated to the disease and to find out the most prevalent leptospiral serogroups. METHOD: a total of 150 serum samples collected during the acute phase from clinically suspected patients of having leptospirosis were analyzed. Samples were evaluated by indirect hemagglutination and microagglutination tests, taking a microagglutination titer equal to or greater than 1:800 as definition of confirmed case. Epidemiological data as well as symptoms and signs of interest were analyzed. RESULTS: these serological techniques allowed defining 31 confirmed cases (20.6%) and 16 probable cases (10.6 %). Icterohaemorrhagiae was the serogroup with the higher serological reactivity in both confirmed and probable cases. Most common symptoms were fever (89.3 %), headaches (86.7 %) and myalgias (77.3 %). Symptoms of severe leptospirosis like jaundice and renal failure were observed in 36 % and 6.7 % of cases, respectively. About 70 % of confirmed or probable cases came from urban areas and 85 % of them were men aged 40 years as average. The epidemiological risk factors were exposure to rats and domestic animal (95.7 %) and potentially contaminated water (36.2 %). CONCLUSIONS: the results of the present study suggest that leptospirosis is a public health problem in Valle del Cauca, a region located on the south west of the country.