Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis

My bug was the Leptospira interrogans which causes Leptopspirosis.

Some of the common names of this bug are Weil’s Disease, Mud Fever, Fort Bragg fever,

and Swamp Fever.

This particular bug will manifest in the kidney and in the liver. It can in its most severe form cause kidney failure, heart failure, and shock. This bacteria, L.interrogans, multiplies inside of the organs, generally it is in the kidney, liver, CNS. L. interrogans is normally a zoonosis, and is found commonly in dogs, cattle, and swine. It is generally transmitted through contact of the infected urine. Since the L. interrogans is shed in the urine, it is easy for cattle pens, water supplies, and etc. to be easily contaminated. Many times Leptospirosis is caused from contaminated water, semen from bulls, and contaminated feed.

The shape of the L. interrogans is a spiral one. It is flexible with hooked ends that make it look very similar to a question mark. It also has internal flagella. The size is around 5um.

The gram stain reaction of L. interrogans is gram negative. To stain this bacteria you must use a relatively new staining technique termed immunofluorescence which uses a ultraviolet light to identify its staining. You can also use an older technique that is very time consuming, which is silver staining.

There are only a few diseases caused by L. interrogans. These are Weil’s Disease, a severe form of leptospirosis. And of course there is Leptospirosis. These are diseases in which kidney and liver failure is very common. Both can cause jaundice, and cardiovascular collapse. Both have symptoms like the flu. They can cause fever, chill, severe headache, and meningitis in humans. L. interrogans enter the human body through broken skin and mucosa. It is generally found in excreted urine from those infected animals.

This bacteria is in no way apart of the human bodies normal flora.

It is a foreign substance that is opportunistic, but not related to the “normal” flora.

L.interrogans can not grow in temperatures exceeding 36 degrees Celsius. If it is frozen or dried it quickly kills the bacteria. However it can grow up to six months in moist and warm conditions, such as swamps and etc.

L.interrogans is not used for any genetic engineering, in my resources. However it does kill cattle, and can cause abortions in cattle.