What is the extremely rare Leptospirosis which affected Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann?

Leptospirosis is an extremely rare bacterial disease that spreads to humans via the urine of infected animals like dogs and rats said an expert after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was diagnosed with the conditionDr M Wali senior consultant Department of Medicine Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said leptospirosis derived its name from leptospira spiral bacteria spirochaete from the family of LeptospiraceaeldquoIt is a spiral bacteria like a spring and this is usually a disease of animals like dogs mostly rats and some farm animals in pigs and also in zebra horsesrdquo Wali saidThe doctor explained that this spreads via contamination or through direct contact with loosely available food items or water infected with rat urineldquoIn very rare cases it can also spread via unprotected sexual intercourse especially by anal sexrdquo Wali saidThe disease causes ldquovery high temperature headache muscular pains muscular pains vomiting diarrhoeardquoIt also has eye involvement sometimes with yellow patches or brown patches depending upon the complexion and pain in the abdomenHow serious is the diseaseWali said that leptospirosis is usually selflimiting and can resolve within two weeks with antibioticsldquoBut if the infection is severe then it can spread to the kidney can go to the brain spinal cord liverrdquoWhile the liver is mainly involved in rare cases it can spread to the lungsImportantly the expert noted that the disease is difficult to diagnose and can thus remain in the body for some monthsldquoPatients can go from one doctor to another doctor as the fever may not be treated because it is not diagnosedrdquoThe doctor may suspect and conduct a simple PCR test to diagnose the disease It can be well contained by antibiotic doxycycline said WaliThe disease can turn fatal if it enters the brainrdquo Wali said while noting that it ldquodoes not spread from human to human only by contaminationrdquoldquoPeople must not consume loosely available food items from Kirana stores only packaged and properly sealed food Ratinfested loosely available groceries must be avoidedrdquo Wali advisedLeptospirosis is endemic to India due to a tropical climate that complements the transmission of infectionScientists believe that the first disease outbreak in the 1920s came from the Andaman IslandsIt is one of the most widespread yet neglected zoonoses with most reports from South America the Caribbean and South AsiaIn India it is endemic to coastal states like Gujarat Kerala Tamil Nadu Maharashtra Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar IslandsDespite causing significant mortality in India the disease remained highly underreported majorly because of its endemic nature lack of diagnostic modules and lack of awareness among the treating clinicians There is also a paucity of literature available on the burden of the diseaseTo tackle the information gap the government I 2015 launched the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Leptospirosis NPPCL in the endemic statesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever