Are Pathogenic Leptospira Species Agents of Community-Acquired Pneumonia? Case Reports of Leptospirosis Presenting as Pneumonia

J Clin Microbiol. 2016 Jan;54(1):197-9. doi: 10.1128/JCM.02093-15. Epub 2015 Oct 28.

Abstract

We report four Indonesian cases meeting the clinical and radiological criteria for community-acquired pneumonia and other findings suggestive of leptospirosis. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses of serum and urine samples and serology confirmed the diagnosis of leptospirosis in each. Results of qPCR analysis of throat swabs were concordant with those obtained with acute-phase serum samples, which suggests its potential for use as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for leptospirosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Bacterial / blood
  • Bacteriological Techniques
  • Community-Acquired Infections / diagnosis*
  • Community-Acquired Infections / microbiology
  • Community-Acquired Infections / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Leptospira / isolation & purification*
  • Leptospirosis / diagnosis*
  • Leptospirosis / microbiology
  • Leptospirosis / pathology*
  • Pharynx / microbiology
  • Pneumonia, Bacterial / etiology*
  • Pneumonia, Bacterial / microbiology
  • Pneumonia, Bacterial / pathology*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Serologic Tests
  • Serum / microbiology
  • Urine / microbiology

Substances

  • Antibodies, Bacterial

Grants and funding

The clinical study of community-acquired pneumonia, from which these four patients were derived, was funded by Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) SPIN postdoc program no. 06-PD-17. The microbiology tests for CAP were funded by the Laboratory of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. PCR and serology tests for the leptospires were funded by the Royal Tropical Institure (KIT), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.