Description of the situation
27 October 1997
Disease Outbreak Reported
In 1997 leptospirosis spread to Surat district Gujarat State from Valsad district south of Surat where the diseases has been reported for many years. Cases started occurring mid-July. As of 11 September, 281 cases and 34 deaths (case-fatality rate, CFR 12%) had been reported in Valsad district and 132 cases with 14 deaths (CFR 11%) in Surat district. Cases are still being reported. Investigations at the Medical College, Surat showed that more than 40% of the clinically suspected cases had IgM antibodies and almost 60% of cases tested at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi had IgG antibody.
Virtually all the patients are adults and from rural areas; 60% are males. Almost all families and most of the affected villages have reported only single cases. Valsad, Chikhali and Gandevi taluks in Valsad district, and Vyara and Mahuva taluks in Surat district are the worst affected areas. However, a high rate of seropositivity detected in persons without any illness or only mild fever in the last 3 months, also in villages considered unaffected during the present outbreak, indicates that the infection is much more extensive and widespread.
Based on a report from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Delhi, India