The story of leptospirosis is chock full of variety. In terms of biology, any number of different Leptospira species and serovars can play a role in infection, and the resulting infection can run from asymptomatic to deadly. As for ecology, virtually any mammalian species can either act as an affected reservoir for the pathogens or fall victim to a deadly infection. The history of leptospirosis takes us across continents and through centuries, illustrating how changes in scientific thought and technology shaped our understanding of this and other zoonotic diseases. And the current status of this One Health disease is no less varied, both in the wide distribution of leptospirosis as well as the vastly differing (but disturbingly high) estimates of annual cases and deaths. In this episode, we do our best to tackle as much of the variety in this neglected disease as we can, from its impact on us and our furry friends, to the classic story of its discovery and the biggest remaining gaps in our knowledge today. Tune in for all this and more!
| History | Biology |
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| Davidson, L. S. P. “Weil’s disease: A new occupational disease in fish workers.” Glasgow Medical Journal 129.3 (1938): 113. | Caimi, K. and Ruybal, P., 2020. Leptospira spp., a genus in the stage of diversity and genomic data expansion. Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 81, p.104241. |
| Faine, S., and N. D. Stallman. “Amended descriptions of the genus Leptospira Noguchi 1917 and the species L. interrogans (Stimson 1907) Wenyon 1926 and L. biflexa (Wolbach and Binger 1914) Noguchi 1918.” International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 32.4 (1982): 461-463. | Senavirathna, I., Rathish, D. and Agampodi, S., 2020. Cytokine response in human leptospirosis with different clinical outcomes: a systematic review. BMC infectious diseases, 20(1), pp.1-8. |
| Inada, Ryokichi, et al. “The etiology, mode of infection, and specific therapy of Weil’s disease (spirochaetosis icterohaemorrhagica).” The Journal of experimental medicine 23.3 (1916): 377. | Cilia, G., Bertelloni, F., Albini, S. and Fratini, F., 2021. Insight into the epidemiology of leptospirosis: a review of Leptospira isolations from “Unconventional” Hosts. Animals, 11(1), p.191. |
| Kim, Min Ja. “Leptospirosis in the Republic of Korea: historical perspectives, current status and future challenges.” Infection & chemotherapy 45.2 (2013): 137-144. | Haake, D.A. and Levett, P.N., 2015. Leptospirosis in humans. Leptospira and leptospirosis, pp.65-97. |
| Kim, Min Ja. “Historical review of leptospirosis in the Korea (1945–2015).” Infection & Chemotherapy 51.3 (2019): 315-329. | Ellis, W.A., 2015. Animal leptospirosis. Leptospira and leptospirosis, pp.99-137. |
| Kobayashi, Yuzuru. “Discovery of the causative organism of Weil’s disease: historical view.” Journal of infection and chemotherapy 7.1 (2001): 10-15. | Adler, B. and de la Peña Moctezuma, A., 2010. Leptospira and leptospirosis. Veterinary microbiology, 140(3-4), pp.287-296. |
| MacArthur, W. “Historical notes on some epidemic diseases associated with jaundice.” British medical bulletin 13.2 (1957): 146-9. | Cagliero, J., Villanueva, S.Y. and Matsui, M., 2018. Leptospirosis pathophysiology: into the storm of cytokines. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 8, p.204. |
| Marr, John S., and John T. Cathey. “New hypothesis for cause of epidemic among native Americans, New England, 1616–1619.” Emerging infectious diseases 16.2 (2010): 281. | Felix, C.R., Siedler, B.S., Barbosa, L.N., Timm, G.R., McFadden, J. and McBride, A.J., 2020. An overview of human leptospirosis vaccine design and future perspectives. Expert opinion on drug discovery, 15(2), pp.179-188. |
| Middleton, C. R., V. E. Ansdell, and D. M. Sasaki. “Of mice and mongooses… a history of leptospirosis research in Hawaii.” Hawaii Medical Journal 60.7 (2001). | Karpagam, K.B. and Ganesh, B., 2020. Leptospirosis: a neglected tropical zoonotic infection of public health importance—an updated review. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, 39(5), pp.835-846. |
| Noguchi, Hideyo. “Spirochaeta icterohaemorrhagiae in American Wild Rats and its Relation to the Japanese and European Strains. First Paper.” Journal of Experimental Medicine 25.5 (1917). | Soo, Z.M.P., Khan, N.A. and Siddiqui, R., 2020. Leptospirosis: Increasing importance in developing countries. Acta tropica, 201, p.105183. |
| Soo, Zoey May Pheng, Naveed Ahmed Khan, and Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui. “Leptospirosis: Increasing importance in developing countries.” Acta tropica 201 (2020): 105183. | Costa, F., Hagan, J.E., Calcagno, J., Kane, M., Torgerson, P., Martinez-Silveira, M.S., Stein, C., Abela-Ridder, B. and Ko, A.I., 2015. Global morbidity and mortality of leptospirosis: a systematic review. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 9(9), p.e0003898. |
| Taniguchi, Leandro U., and Pedro Póvoa. “Leptospirosis: one of the forgotten diseases.” Intensive Care Medicine 45.12 (2019): 1816-1818. | White, A.M., Zambrana-Torrelio, C., Allen, T., Rostal, M.K., Wright, A.K., Ball, E.C., Daszak, P. and Karesh, W.B., 2017. Hotspots of canine leptospirosis in the United States of America. The Veterinary Journal, 222, pp.29-35. |
| Terpstra, W. J. “Supplement-Historical perspectives in leptospirosis.” Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 24.4 (2006): 316-320. | |
| Vincent, Antony T., et al. “Revisiting the taxonomy and evolution of pathogenicity of the genus Leptospira through the prism of genomics.” PLoS neglected tropical diseases 13.5 (2019): e0007270. |
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