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Abstract

Leptospirosis, also known as field fever, is an acute infectious zoonosis with natural focus caused by various pathogenic leptospiras. Rodents and pigs are the major sources of its infection, which has an acute onset. At its early stage, the symptoms include high fever, fatigue and weakness, systemic pain soreness, conjunctival congestion, calf tenderness, as well as swelling of superficial lymph nodes. At its middle stage, it is clinically characterized by diffuse pulmonary bleeding and apparent lesions at the liver, kidneys, and the central nervous system. At its advanced stage, most patients can be cured, but some rare patients may further develop fever, ocular uveitis, and occlusive cerebral arteritis. Leptospirosis is a globally distributed disease, more commonly affecting the tropical and subtropical areas.

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Correspondence to Hongjun Li .

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and People's Medical Publishing House

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Li, R., Li, H., Zhang, A. (2015). Leptospirosis. In: Li, H. (eds) Radiology of Infectious Diseases: Volume 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9876-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9876-1_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9875-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9876-1

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