Leptospirosis in a Field Epidemiologist - โรคเลปโตสไปโรสิสในนักระบาดวิทยาภาคสนาม

Abstract

Reported of leptospirosis patient, she was a 37 years old field epidemiologist who investigated
the outbreak of leptospirosis after flooding in Nan province. It was found that the risk of illness caused
by working as a field epidemiologist who served in community epidemiological investigations to fix the
problem which not expected to occur and must be solved immediately. Therefore, the field epidemiologist
has to work overtime in a stressful situation, and also limitation for collecting data and time
constraint. The patient got sick even if she took oral doxycycline 200 mg to prevent leptospirosis. She
had fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain and nausea. She was diagnosed as anicteric leptospirosis
which was confirmed by the detection of leptospira DNA and IgM antibody to Leptospira interrogans
and Leptospira biflexa (patoc) by Western immunoblot analysis. She was treated with antibiotics and
healed without complications.
Key words: Field epidemiologist, Leptospirosis, Flood, occupational disease