Leptospirosis : surveillance of cases in the aragua hemorrhagic jaundice febrile syndrome program

Leptospirosis is a worldwide distribution anthropozoonosis, with a higher incidence in tropical countries. In Venezuela, the cases are registered in the national surveillance system for the ictero-hemorrhagic diseases, with little documentation upon clinical and epidemiological aspects of the disease; hence, the aim of this study was to establish epidemiologic, clinical and diagnostic characteristics of leptospirosis in Aragua state. It was a Cross sectional epidemiological study where probable and confirmed cases of leptospirosis were described, obtained from the febril icterohemorrhagic national surveillance program. From 533 cases reported since January of 2011 to July of 2013, 233 (43,79%) were probable cases, 68 (12,75%) were confirmed for leptospirosis. The highest cumulative incidence crude rate of leptospirosis per 100.000 inhabitants of the study period occurred in 2012 with 2,94. Bolivar (7,9%) and Sucre (5,2%) were the municipalities with the highest incidence rate. The main risk factors were: the presence of rodents in houses 63,2%, march and april were the months with the lowest rainfall which showed the fewest number of cases. The most frequent symptoms in confirmed cases were fever (75%), headaches (61,8%), jaundice (55,9%), vomiting (54,4%), abdominal pain (47,1%), diarrhea (35,3%), were the most frequent symptoms among confirmed cases. Headache, joint pain, myalgia, and retroocular pain, were significantly more frequent in ages over 10 years. 12,8% of the caseswere diagnosed by PCR based on blood, 28% by PCR based on urine, 45,2% by MAT.