Leptospirosis in children in Rio do Janeiro

In order to obtain data about clinical manifestations of symptomatic leptospiral infection in children, the authors reviewed 188 microscopic agglutination tests performed on sera of patients aged 0 to 12 years, made at the National Reference Laboratory of Leptospirosis (FIOCRUZ-RJ) from January 1983 to June 1991. Fifty two (27.6 per cent ) sera were positive. Twenty three (12.2 per cent ) children had serological evidence of acute infection. The most frequent signs and symptoms of these 23 cases were: fever (100 per cent ); myalgia (69.5 per cent ); headache (52.1 per cent ); jaundice (47.8 per cent ); vomit (34.8 per cent ); abdominal pain, hemorrhagic manifestations and impaired renal function (17.4 per cent ); conjunctivitis (13 per cent ); hepatomegaly (4.3 per cent )