Video - Leptospira

Leptospira is a genus of tiny spiral gram-negative bacteria that can be seen under a darkfield microscope. It's a motile and aerobic bacteria, and it doesn't form spores. Leptospira causes a zoonotic infection called leptospirosis, which has two phases. During the first phase, there are non-specific symptoms such as fever and headache. During the second phase, also called Weil disease, there may be signs of end-organ damage like jaundice, a cough, dyspnea and hemoptysis, reduced urine output, and fluid retention, depending on the affected organs. Diagnosis is done with ELISA which detects antibodies against leptospira antigens in one's serum; by visualizing the bacteria in biological samples using a darkfield microscope; or with PCR to detect bacterial DNA.