Leptospirosis and dengue fever begin with similar symptoms. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and muscle pains, especially of the neck, shoulders, back and legs, and eye irritation. There may also be nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, jaundice and many other signs and symptoms. Most cases of leptospirosis get better on their own, but severely ill people need to be treated in hospital, especially if they are jaundiced and have kidney failure. Urgent medical attention is needed if you have persistent vomiting, have dark urine or pass much less urine than usual, or if your eyes turn yellow.
Doctors can only be certain that a patient has leptospirosis by having laboratory tests made.
These tests are not available in all the islands of the Caribbean. However, in those places where tests are made the disease is known to be quite common, so it is likely that it is common on the other islands where the tests are not available. Leptospirosis and dengue fever both occur in the rainy season and it may be impossible to tell which disease you have without the special blood tests. Animals pass on leptospirosis Many types of animal can harbour leptospires. However, other animals can also do this, so even if there are no rodents on your premises you can still catch leptospirosis.