Leptospirosis patients suffer from self-medication

Thiruvananthapuram: A majority of the leptospirosis cases in Thiruvananthapuram became severe after the victims decided to self-medicate.

It takes several days for the patient to finally approach a doctor and some more days for the test results to be out.

This delay can be fatal, warn doctors. Karunan M., who was diagnosed with Leptospirosis on August 31, had the fever on August 24.

“But I tried having paracetamol in the beginning. The fever was not reducing. It was after this that I took help from a doctor. Now I am better,” he says.

Santha D., a 68-year-old who had Leptospirosis, was bitten by a rat. She was given Tetanus Toxoid injection, but her daughter-in-law Sindhu A. says that she is not sure whether she has had doxycycline.

There were many others DC spoke to who said they first thought it was just another fever and had paracetamol.

Another lesson to be drawn from Karunan’s case is that one can be infected even if one steps on to a small puddle of polluted water.

A food vendor at Sreekaryam junction, Karunan would have stepped on to a puddle there. He says he is not sure if there was a wound on his feet either.

Since one has to be extremely cautious, additional DMO Dr Neena Rani has been regularly taking doxycycline tablets—200 mg every week, for six weeks.

“Earlier I have had H1N1 and dengue, and cannot afford to have Leptospirosis as well. Since there is a bit of water near my house, I have decided to take the prophylactic medicine,” she says.