Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease found among animals and people. Many animals have bacteria in their urine, and those animals include horses.

How It Spread?

Leptospirosis is spread through the animals' urine, which had intact with soil or water and survived for many weeks to months. On the other hand, the people with Leptospirosis are due to contact with urine or body fluids of infected animals but not from their saliva. However, there are high chances for people to cause Leptospirosis due to animal bleeding and urine contamination.

Who Is At Risk?

Leptospirosis is common in subtropical and tropical climates but found in other climates as well rarely. It is highly linked to infected animals and the activities in rivers and lakes that are contaminated. For instance, the activities include swimming, kayaking, wading, and rafting. Similarly, those people who have jobs that involve contact with the waste of animals, such as sewer workers, farmers, slaughter workers, and veterinarians, are prone to Leptospirosis. The people who work with horses directly or clean them (mucking stalls) will have a high risk for Leptospirosis.

Signs In Horses :

Leptospirosis is linked with the eye problems such as cloudiness or inflammation in the eye (uveitis). Some other symptoms include abortions, stillbirths, fever, and kidney failure.

Symptoms In People : 

People who suffer from Leptospirosis will not have any symptoms. Still, some people might show jaundice, vomiting, muscle aches, chills, headache, fever, red eyes, diarrhea, rash, and abdominal pain. Also, some people will suffer from more severe diseases such as kidney failure, liver issues, hemorrhagic pneumonia, and death. Therefore, the treatment of the disease is necessary with antibiotics to reduce the severity and duration of the illness.