An Unusual Cause for Bowel Perforation- Leptospirosis
N. Raj Kumar *
Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India.
M. Maanasa Bhaskar
Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India.
Shaktivel Harikrishnan
Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India.
Nanda Kishore Maroju
Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Leptospirosis is an acute febrile illness of zoonotic origin that is endemic in many tropical and subtropical regions. Infection results from direct or indirect exposure to infected reservoir host animals that carry the pathogenic leptospires in the renal tubules and are shed in their urine. The spectrum of disease is extremely wide-ranging from infections mimicking a number of other unrelated infections viz dengue and other viral hemorrhagic fevers, hepatitis or pyrexia of unknown origin to life-threatening complications including hepato-renal failure and multiorgan dysfunction. Gastrointestinal involvement in leptospirosis is rare and here we report a fatal case of leptospirosis with colonic perforation and multiorgan dysfunction with sepsis in a 65 yrs old male patient.
Keywords: Leptospirosis, zoonosis, colonic perforation