A review of human leptospirosis in Malaysia

This paper reviews the literature on human leptospirosis in Malaysia from its first description in 1925 until the present day. Fletcher diagnosed the first case of human leptospirosis in Malaysia in 1925. Following Fletcher, many investigations on human leptospirosis in Malaysia disclosed a high prevalence of infection (Tan, 1970aSupramaniam, 1979El Jalii, 2002). These investigations indicated that the disease was endemic in the country. Tan (1970) examined 1993 suspected human cases of leptospirosis and found 28 % of the cases were positive. In a recent survey, 2190 serum samples from patients with different clinical manifestations in the country disclosed 12.6% were positive for antibodies to leptospires. The risk to leptospiral infection with respect to occupation, location, sex, race and age groups was demonstrated. Both civilians and military personnel were affected. Thirty-eight serovars from thirteen serogroups have been identified in the country. Recent stud ies on animal leptospirosis showed that the disease was highly endemic in the animal population. It is considered that the majority of leptospirosis cases in man were due to association of man with animals and disease-infected environment