Leptospira Serovar as Prognostic Factor

摘要

To the Editor: Herrmann-Storck et al. (1) investigated prognostic fac-tors of leptospirosis and concluded that infection with Leptospira interro-gans serovar Icterohemorrhagiae was linked to severe outcomes. We have concerns about this conclusion.These researchers were compar-ing clinical severity of disease among patients for whom serovars of infecting isolates had been identifi ed. However, in that study, blood culture was per-formed for only 88 (52%) of 168 case-patients, and serovars were identifi ed for 40 (73%) of 55 Leptospira strains isolated. Expecting these 40 patients (24% of total) to represent all case-patients in the study is unjustifi ed.