The excellent blog Infection Landscapes has a new mini-course, this one on Leptospirosis. Excerpt:
Leptospirosis can range from asymptomatic infection to severe life threatening illness. Mild to moderate presentations may include fever, myalgia, headache, chills, diarrhea, vommiting, and petechial rash.
Severe, complicated, leptospirosis, which is also referred to as Weil's disease, presents with multiple organ system involvement, most prominently the kidneys and liver. High concentrations of urea and creatinine in the blood, darkened and diminished urine output, and frank renal failure, and jaundice, abnormal liver enzymes, and frank liver failure characterized complicated leptospirosis in these two organ systems, respectively.
Severe leptospirosis can also affect the lungs and heart, presenting with pulmonary hemorrhage, myocarditis, and pericarditis. Endothelial lesions and vascular injury are apparent in all involved organ systems. Depending on how extensive the vascular injury, complete cardiovascular collapse may follow.
Finally, meningitis is another common complication in moderate to severe leptospirosis.
