• Kun-Jung Chung, Cheng-Ting Hsiao, Jien-Wei Liu, and Chih-Hsiung Lee.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung, 123 Ta Pei Road, Niao Sung Hsiang, Kaohsiung Hsien, Taiwan.
• J Formos Med Assoc. 2002 Jul 1; 101 (7): 514-8.

AbstractLeptospirosis, a zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution, is often overlooked in Taiwan. Clinicians at our medical center in southern Taiwan became alert to the potential for leptospirosis after the first documented case of severe leptospirosis--Weil's syndrome was diagnosed at our emergency department in early September 2000. Four additional cases of leptospirosis were subsequently diagnosed within a 2-month period. All of the patients were hospitalized, and presented with high fever, severe myalgia, jaundice, and acute renal failure. Two of these patients who rapidly received doxycycline therapy survived, while the remaining three patients who received delayed penicillin therapy died. These cases suggest that the incidence of leptospirosis may have been underestimated in Taiwan, and underscore the urgent need for increased clinician awareness of this infectious disease.

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