Epidemiological surveillance of human leptospirosis in Colombia, 2007-2011

Abstract

Introduction: Leptospirosis is a reemerging zoonosis of worldwide distribution, caused by a spirochete of the genus Leptospira. In Colombia, the disease represents a major public health issue, and there has been an increased number of cases in humans and animals.

Objective: To characterize epidemiologically cases of leptospirosis reported to the National Public Health Surveillance in Colombia, and to make an approach to determine the serogroups circulating in the country.

Materials and methods: A retrospective observational study was designed using a process of monitoring records, which included cases reported by the software SIVIGILA and samples sent to the Microbiology Group of the National Laboratory Network (GM-RNL), for the period 2007-2011. We registered socio-demographic variables and analyzed 17 serogroups of Leptospira.

Results: A total of 11,786 records were processed, with 4,621 confirmed cases of leptospirosis. The geographic places which reported the highest number of cases were: Valle del Cauca, Antioquia, Risaralda, Atlántico and Barranquilla, and those with the highest incidence were Guaviare, Risaralda, San Andres, Santa Marta and Barranquilla. The largest number of cases was from urban areas, and more commonly in men (77%), students (19.4%) and housewives (13.6%). A median age of 29 years (IQR 45-19) was observed. There was evidence of 17 serogroups circulating in the country, from which the three most frequent were Australis (24.89%), Hebdomadis (9.33%) and Sejroe (8.0%).

Conclusions: In Colombia, the reported cases have improved as well as their final classification, allowing us to determine the Australis serogroup as the most widely circulating one.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v33i0.1608