“The water is going to recede but there’s still going to be a lot of it, and leptospirosis can survive in that water for weeks,” said Dr Max Eyre, a leptospirosis expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, working in Brazil. “It’s a serious problem and likely to get a lot worse.”
The disease is caused by spirochete bacterium from the genus Leptospira and tends to occur during heavy rainfall or flooding. It is estimated to cause more than one million human cases and almost 60,000 deaths globally each year.
Symptoms range in severity from a mild disease with fever, chills and headaches lasting around a week, to life-threatening illness which can lead to kidney damage, liver failure, meningitis and pulmonary haemorrhage.
Of those who are hospitalised, between five and 16 per cent die.
“Seek care immediately,” said health minister Nísia Trindade. “We cannot tell people not to have contact with water, because this is the situation in most municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, but try to wear boots, gloves, be aware of these symptoms and seek medical attention as soon as possible.”
