Introduction Leptospirosis, a zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution, has emerged as an important public health concern. Rodents are the most common reservoir of infection. Humans are the accidental host who acquires infection by direct or indirect exposure to urine or other products of infected animals. It presents with a wide range of clinical manifestations from mild fever to severe hepatic and renal involvement. Due to a lack of clinical awareness, proper epidemiological data, and proper diagnostic facilities in resource-limited settings, leptospirosis still remains an underdiagnosed and underreported disease. This study aims to determine the seroprevalence of leptospirosis among suspected patients with acute febrile illness who attended the OPD or were admitted to wards of this tertiary care hospital in Northern Assam and to analyse the clinical pattern of disease occurrence. Materials and methods A hospital-based retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Tezpur Medical College and Hospital, Assam, from April 2023 to March 2024. A total of 1,372 serum samples, collected from acute febrile illness patients, were tested for Leptospira IgM antibody using a commercially available Leptospira IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, and the clinical pattern of disease occurrence among the positive cases was studied. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test. Results Out of 1,372 patients of acute febrile illness, 213 were tested positive for Leptospira IgM, with a seroprevalence of 15.5%. Most prevalent in 61-70 years of age, with no statistical difference between females (115/687; 16.7%) and males (98/685; 14.3%). The highest frequency occurred during October-December (64; 30.1%). The most common clinical presentation was fever with cough (43; 20.2%), followed by vomiting (31; 14.6%) and headache (30; 14.1%). Conclusion With a seroprevalence rate of 15.5%, leptospirosis has emerged as an important cause of acute febrile illness in this region. Awareness among the clinicians is crucial for early diagnosis, and in a resource-limited setup, serological assays like ELISA can be an effective diagnostic approach.
Lahon et al. (Tue,) studied this question.