LEPTOSPIRA INFECTED-RAT POPULATION PROBAB LY CAUSING A CASE OF FATAL MORBUS WEIL

In the summer of 1992 a patient died of a leptospiral infection which he probably had contracted while he was swimming in an artificial lake in the region of Tubingen/Reutlingen. Regarding the epidemiological r ole of leptospirosis the rodent population was investigated because ra ts and mice were often seen in the surrounding area. 11 rats and 20 mi ce could be trapped. From their urine or kidneys two leptospiral serov ars were isolated: Serovar capenhageni from Rattus norvegiens and sero var saxkoebing from Clethrionomys glareolus. Leptospiral antibody tite rs were not detected in one of these infected animals. It may be suppo sed that the Leptospira interrogans serovar copenhageni out of the Ser ogroup leterohaemorrhagiae had caused the leptospiral infection of the patient.