Abstract
BackgroundLeptospirosis, a spirochaetal zoonosis, occurs in diverse epidemiological settings and affects vulnerable populations, such as rural subsistence farmers and urban slum dwellers. Although leptospirosis can cause life-threatening disease, there is no global burden of disease estimate in terms of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) available.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe utilised the results of a parallel publication that reported global estimates of morbidity and mortality due to leptospirosis. We estimated Years of Life Lost (YLLs) from age and gender stratified mortality rates. Years of Life with Disability (YLDs) were developed from a simple disease model indicating likely sequelae. DALYs were estimated from the sum of YLLs and YLDs. The study suggested that globally approximately 2·90 million DALYs are lost per annum (UIs 1·25–4·54 million) from the approximately annual 1·03 million cases reported previously. Males are predominantly affected with an estimated 2·33 million DALYs (UIs 0·98–3·69) or approximately 80% of the total burden. For comparison, this is over 70% of the global burden of cholera estimated by GBD 2010. Tropical regions of South and South-east Asia, Western Pacific, Central and South America, and Africa had the highest estimated leptospirosis disease burden.Conclusions/SignificanceLeptospirosis imparts a significant health burden worldwide, which approach or exceed those encountered for a number of other zoonotic and neglected tropical diseases. The study findings indicate that highest burden estimates occur in resource-poor tropical countries, which include regions of Africa where the burden of leptospirosis has been under-appreciated and possibly misallocated to other febrile illnesses such as malaria.
Highlights
Leptospirosis is a neglected emerging zoonotic disease that has an important public health impact worldwide, especially within economically vulnerable populations such as urban slums and rural subsistence farmers [1]
Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) result from the sum of the number of years of life lost due to mortality (YLLs) and the number of years lived with a disability (YLDs) due to the disease [19]
The global burden of leptospirosis was estimated at 2Á90 million DALYs per annum (UIs 1Á25– 4Á54 million)
Summary
Leptospirosis is a neglected emerging zoonotic disease that has an important public health impact worldwide, especially within economically vulnerable populations such as urban slums and rural subsistence farmers [1]. It can have high fatality and is recognised as the most common and widespread zoonotic disease, the worldwide burden of morbidity and mortality is still unknown [2,3,4]. Leptospirosis may have life-threatening manifestations that are responsible for most of the worldwide burden These include acute renal and pulmonary failure and fulminant multi-system disease [7]. Leptospirosis can cause life-threatening disease, there is no global burden of disease estimate in terms of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) available
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