Introduction:

Leptospirosis remains a significant health problem in tropical regions including Latin America, where its presentation is 100 times higher than that observed in other regions of the world. Mortality reaches 10% in severe cases. Its diagnosis is challenging because clinical manifestations during the initial phase are non-specific and because of limited availability of diagnostic tests

Objective:

To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics and the outcomes in hospitalized patients with leptospirosis.

Materials and methods:

This retrospective study included patients treated at four institutions in Medellín between January, 2009, and December, 2013, with a compatible clinical picture and a positive IgM for Leptospira spp.

Results:

We included 119 patients, 80% male, and 58% of rural origin. The mean duration of symptoms was 9.6 days (SD=9.6). Eighty nine per cent of patients had fever; 62%, jaundice; 74%, myalgia; 46%, diarrhea; 41%, hepatomegaly; 13%, splenomegaly, and 13%, conjunctival injection. Fifty four per cent of patients had impaired renal function; 32%, pulmonary compromise, and 13%, liver failure. Sixteen per cent required admission to the ICU; 12%, mechanical ventilation, and 11%, vasopressor therapy. Weil's syndrome occurred in 38.6% and 5% died. The average hospital stay was 11 days (SD=9.6).

Conclusions:

In this population, the clinical manifestations and complications of leptospirosis were similar to those reported in the literature. We observed a relatively low overall mortality in relation to global statistics.

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