Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun;75(3):213-219.
doi: 10.1007/s13224-024-02080-7. Epub 2025 Feb 21.

Maternal and Foetal Outcomes of Leptospirosis in Pregnancy: An Observational Descriptive Study at a Tertiary Care Centre in Western India

Affiliations

Maternal and Foetal Outcomes of Leptospirosis in Pregnancy: An Observational Descriptive Study at a Tertiary Care Centre in Western India

Jyotsna S Dwivedi et al. J Obstet Gynaecol India. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Leptospirosis is one of the most prevalent zoonoses worldwide. Its presentation is varied in severity and non-specific mimicking other infectious diseases and pregnancy conditions such as HELLP or AFLP.

Aims and objectives: This study aims to evaluate the maternal and foetal outcomes of leptospirosis and estimate its prevalence in pregnancy at a tertiary care centre.

Methods: This is an observational descriptive study conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Western India over a duration of 5 years. All pregnant patients diagnosed as leptospirosis via IgM ELISA were included.

Results: A total of 37 patients were enrolled. Majority presented in the first trimester and belonged to the low socio-economic strata. Fever was the most persistent symptom. Five patients had a spontaneous abortion, two underwent MTP, eight had a preterm delivery, whereas 22 patients carried up till term (of which 18 delivered vaginally and four underwent a LSCS). Majority had leucocytosis and were anaemic. Twelve cases had hyperbilirubinaemia, six had deranged transaminases, three had raised serum creatinine values and two had thrombocytopenia. Four patients required management in the ICU out of which two progressed to Weil's disease and one succumbed to death. The research team at our centre yielded an estimated 9.06% prevalence of leptospirosis.

Conclusion: Leptospirosis is often underdiagnosed and hence under-reported. Being a re-emerging infectious disease, an early clinical suspicion and sound understanding of the disease process in pregnant women is required.

Keywords: Leptospirosis; Observational study; Pregnancy; Weil’s disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

References

    1. Karpagam KB, Ganesh B. Leptospirosis: a neglected tropical zoonotic infection of public health importance—an updated review. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2020;39(5):835–46. - PubMed
    1. https://www.cdc.gov/leptospirosis/pdf/fs-leptospirosis-clinicians-eng-50....
    1. https://ncdc.mohfw.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/National-Guidelines...
    1. Selvarajah S, Ran S, Roberts NW, et al. Leptospirosis in pregnancy: a systematic review. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021;15(9):e0009747. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shrestha M, Choudhury SS, Carolin SV, et al. Leptospirosis in pregnancy: prevalence, risk factors, clinical characteristics, and outcomes in a North Indian Population. medRxiv. 2022 Nov 2:2022–11.