Letter to the Editor: Leptospirosis versus hantavirus infections in the Netherlands and in Belgium, 2000 to 2014

摘要

These dual acute infections are probably even more frequent in highly endemic tropical regions, as dem- onstrated very recently in Sri-Lanka (Sunil-Chandra, data not shown) by proving concomitant enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) IgM-positivity for both pathogens in seven of 31 patients, hospitalised for leptospirosis. This illustrates that seroconfirma- tion (even by the gold standard microscopic agglutina- tion test, MAT) of leptospirosis does not automatically exclude concomitant HFRS, a globally underestimated but evidence-based fact, having far-reaching epide- miological and therapeutical implications.