By Olivia Bassett
Olivia Bassett
Leptospirosis – AKA Weil’s disease
The dangers and what to look out for…
I have been very fit and healthy all my life and have been an active member of the Bideford Canoe Club for 21 years. I enjoy paddling on the local rivers, including Torridge, Taw, Barle and Dart Loop, and I started sea kayaking eight years ago.
On 16th December, I felt awful with a headache, fever and body aches. I went to bed with two paracetamols thinking I had flu. I stayed in bed for eight days as my condition deteriorated. My husband Steve had to take me to A&E on Christmas Eve.
My symptoms as days progressed:
The medical team struggled to find the cause of my illness. They suspected I had contracted a type of hepatitis and focussed on my travel history due to my severe jaundice.
Blood test results showed I had severe dehydration with hyponatraemia (sodium concentration in blood is abnormally low), acute kidney injury stage 3, abnormal liver and kidney functions, severe jaundice and a viral disease. I was seriously ill. They started a saline IV to rehydrate me, an anti-sickness IV and a pain relief IV six hours after I arrived at A&E.
I was in A&E for 19 hours before a bed was available in a ward. Blood tests were taken two to three times daily to monitor my condition and aid in their diagnosis. My saline and pain relief IVs were stopped late afternoon on Boxing Day as there was no instruction to continue with them. Due to the bank holiday, I didn’t see a doctor for two days. At times, I was delirious and couldn’t respond coherently. I couldn’t move around unaided. I managed some weak black tea and two digestive biscuits without being sick. I slept very poorly due to the pain and fever, and I couldn’t move my body to find a comfortable sleeping position.
seriously ill with jaundice
A GP friend visited me and was shocked to see how seriously ill I was with jaundice, swollen feet, and IV drips. Alison knew I was a keen kayaker and suggested I might have Weil’s disease, which I had never heard of. After I read the information about Leptospirosis (Weil’s disease) – NHS (www.nhs.uk), I concurred.
A urology consultant friend also visited. He was shocked and concerned that no doctor had seen me for two days despite my serious condition. He rang the duty medical consultant to see me urgently.
On 27th December, the locum consultant came and examined me. He found I had a heart murmur caused by the infection and a rash on my back, abdomen and feet. I floated the suggested diagnosis of Weil’s disease to him, and he was receptive to the suggestion and ordered more blood tests. Blood culture results for Weil’s disease wouldn’t come back until a week later as it’s not a standard test, and they had to send it to Exeter Laboratory. I had antibiotics IV 10 days after the onset of my illness. I also agreed to have a catheter for them to monitor me. I was shocked to see the colour of my urine in the bag, which was the same colour as a full-bodied red wine.
blurred vision
The following morning my vision was blurred. I saw the gastroenterologist involved in my care in the afternoon. With my symptoms of aching, fever, D&V, jaundice and conjunctivitis and my kayaking history, he was confident it was leptospirosis (Weil’s disease). More blood tests followed to monitor my progress, and an ultrasound scan of the abdomen on my upper organs to check for damage.
The following day I could raise my feet a tiny bit above the bed and had more movement in my legs over the following days. Liver and kidney functions were improving slightly but still abnormal.
On 30th December, two physiotherapists helped me get out of bed and sit on a chair beside my bed. Under their supervision, I was issued a walking frame to practise walking alongside my bed for the first time in 10 days.
exhausted
On New Year’s Eve, the same physiotherapists showed up and helped me negotiate stairs on the hospital staircase. I was discharged with antibiotics, Vitamin D, calcium, potassium and magnesium tablets, eye drops and cream to ease my itchiness and the walking frame. I was so pleased to be home, but everything I attempted exhausted me.
I received exceptional good care from the hospital staff and my GP. Physiotherapy helped strengthen my legs and improve my mobility. At an eye clinic, I was prescribed steroids drops to reduce the inflammation in the lining of my cornea and lubricant drops to reduce eye irritation.
the unluckiest kayaker
I must be the unluckiest kayaker to catch leptospirosis. My GP friends commented that in their 35 years of practice, they only came across three cases in the whole practice with about 15,000 patients. Only farmers, vets and sewage workers are at high risk.
I made small improvements each day. Eight days after discharge from the hospital, I started moving around the house with a walking stick. My whole body was still very itchy because of the acute inflammation of the lining of my organs and muscles.
A week post-discharge, my blood results showed my liver and kidney functions were still abnormal, but the markers showed slight improvements. The blood test on 30th January showed my liver and kidney functions had returned to normal.
I could walk unaided after two months after contracting leptospirosis. My legs are still weak, and I must do daily exercises to strengthen them. Contracting leptospirosis hasn’t put me off from kayaking.
On reflection, I made poor decisions when I was very ill, and I should have gone to A&E sooner. The difficulty in recognising leptospirosis is that not all the symptoms appear simultaneously. If you are unfortunate to get these symptoms, you must tell the doctor you are a kayaker. Any delay could be fatal.
