Impact of COVID-19 on the Trend of Leptospirosis

Abstract

Background and Objectives: With the prevalence of a large number of febrile diseases in the Asia-Pacific region, the presentation of fever poses a diagnostic dilemma for physicians during the COVID era. We noticed an alarming increase in the number of cases of leptospirosis during the pandemic. Hence, we conducted a study to compare the trend, complications, and outcomes of patients with leptospirosis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subjects and Methods: A retrospective, hospital case record-based analytical study was conducted in a tertiary care center in Mangaluru. All patients who were admitted to our hospital from March to October 2019 (before the COVID pandemic) and from March to October 2020 (during the COVID pandemic) with a clinical and laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of leptospirosis were included in our study. Patient records were screened, and demographic, clinical, and laboratory information was collected. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 16.0 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Results: The incidence of leptospirosis was higher during the COVID pandemic (102 vs. 62). The mean age of leptospirosis patients in 2019 and 2020 was 45.18 and 45.19 years, respectively. Fewer patients with leptospirosis reported fever during the pandemic (69.6% vs. 94.2%). There was an increased incidence of complications such as hepatitis (84.3% vs. 31.9%), acute kidney injury (87.3% vs. 52.2%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (20.6% vs. 8.7%), and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (68.6% vs. 33.3%) in 2020. The case fatality rate Was higher in 2020 (2 0. 6 %) when compared to 2019 (5. 8 %) Conclusions: There was an increase in Proportion of leptospirosiscases, complications and mortality during the COVID pandemic. This is a cause for concern. More studies are needed in the community to determine the reason for this increase.