Epidemiology, clinical and laboratory features of 24 consecutive cases of leptospirosis at a German infectious disease center

To determine epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics of leptospirosis, 24 consecutive patients diagnosed with the infection between 2011 and 2017 at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf were retrospectively analyzed. The majority of patients were male travelers who returned from Southeast Asia and had a history of freshwater-associated activities. Considering the lack of discriminatory clinical or clinical chemistry parameters, leptospirosis should be regarded as differential diagnosis in any patient with acute febrile illness, especially with a history of travel to tropical and subtropical regions or freshwater exposure.