Caracterización clínica, epidemiológica y terapéutica de pacientes hospitalizados con leptospirosis humana

Introduction: leptospirosis is an infectious disease common to animals and humans, it is a serious health problem and in Cuba the climatic and ecological conditions favor its development. Objective: to characterize hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of human leptospirosis according to clinical criteria, epidemiological risk, presence of complications and response to treatment. Method: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in the period from January 2014 to December 2015. The universe consisted of 113 patients with a clinical diagnosis of human leptospirosis that required antimicrobial treatment during the hospitalization period. The data was obtained from the medical records. Results: it was evidenced that the male sex (79.6%) was mostly affected, in ages between 40-49 years (39.8%). The main epidemiological risks were rice (76.1%), pigs (62.8%), and dogs (57.5%). The main symptoms were fever (100%), headache (88.5%), myalgia and arthralgia (100%); Acute liver failure was the complication that predominated in 1.8%. 76 patients were treated with Penicillin G for 67.2%. Conclusions: the group of ages 40 to 49 years and the male sex were the most affected. The history of rice cultivation increases the risk of suffering from the disease. Fever, myalgia and arthralgia were present in all patients. There were few complications; acute liver failure predominated, and Penicillin G was the drug of choice used.