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The look of leptospirosis in Victoria — recent trends

Jason A Trubiano, Brett A Sutton and Lucinda J Franklin
Med J Aust 2013; 199 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/mja13.10089
Published online: 7 October 2013

To the Editor: Leptospirosis in Victoria can be acquired locally or overseas. The clinical manifestations range from asymptomatic disease to multiorgan failure. We performed a retrospective case review of 147 notifications of leptospirosis to the Victorian Department of Health during the period 2002–2012. We aimed to investigate the epidemiology, clinical features and outcomes of leptospirosis in this population and identify any differences between patients who acquired the disease locally and those who acquired it overseas.


  • 1 Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Unit, Victorian Government Department of Health, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 Infectious Diseases Department, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 3 Communicable Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, Victorian Government Department of Health, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: jason.trubiano@bigpond.com

Acknowledgements: 

We thank Andrew Mahony for statistical analysis and Jim Adamopoulos for patient follow-up.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Communicable Diseases Network Australia. Australian national notifiable diseases and case definitions. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, 2013. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing. nsf/Content/cdna-casedefinitions.htm (accessed Sep 2013).
  • 2. Katz AR, Ansdell VE, Effler PV, et al. Assessment of the clinical presentation and treatment of 353 cases of laboratory-confirmed leptospirosis in Hawaii, 1974–1998. Clin Infect Dis 2001; 33: 1834-1841.
  • 3. Bharadwaj R, Bal AM, Joshi SA, et al. An urban outbreak of leptospirosis in Mumbai, India. Jpn J Infect Dis 2002; 55: 194-196.
  • 4. Levett PN. Leptospirosis. Clin Microbiol Rev 2001; 14: 296-325.
  • 5. Slack AT, Symonds ML, Dohnt MF, Smythe LD. The epidemiology of leptospirosis and the emergence of Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Arborea in Queensland, Australia, 1998–2004. Epidemiol Infect 2006; 134: 1217-1225.

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