title: Atypical manifestations of leptospirosis.
abstract: Leptospirosis is an illness with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and severe illness affects nearly all organ systems. Serious and potentially life-threatening clinical manifestations of acute leptospirosis are caused by both direct tissue invasion by spirochaetes and by the host immune responses. In its severe form, leptospirosis can cause multi-organ dysfunction and death in a matter of days. Therefore it is critical to suspect and recognize the disease early, in order to initiate timely treatment. While the classical presentation of the disease is easily recognized by experienced clinicians practising in endemic regions, rarer manifestations can be easily missed. In this systematic review, we summarize the atypical manifestations reported in literature in patients with confirmed leptospirosis. Awareness of these unusual manifestations would hopefully guide clinicians towards early diagnosis.
authors: Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka senaka@med.cmb.ac.lk.
authors: Senaka
authors: S
authors: Rajapakse
authors: Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors: Chaturaka
authors: C
authors: Rodrigo
authors: Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors: Krishan
authors: K
authors: Balaji
authors: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors: Sumadhya Deepika
authors: SD
authors: Fernando
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007919:Leptospira / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: Atypical manifestations; Leptospirosis; Weil's disease