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Athletes who practise water sports are vaccinated against leptospirosis by Mundo Sano and Cenard.

The campaign included more than 100 athletes that belong to the 5 water sports federations and are in permanent contact with water contaminated with leptospira, a bacterium transmitted by rodents that passes through skin lesions and the contact with the mucosa.

For two days, the members of the rowing, canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing, sailing and yachting, triathlon and open water swimming national teams were vaccinated against leptospirosis after the initiative of the National Center of High Performance Athletics (CENARD), with the support of Fundación Mundo Sano. Thanks to this campaign, more than 100 athletes will begin their training season vaccinated against this zoonotic, infectious-contagious disease. During the first 10 months of the year, there were more than 330 cases (7 times more than reported cases in the same period in 2009.) So far, at least 15 deaths have occurred in the Province of Santa Fé and one in the Province of Buenos Aires.

Leptospirosis is a disease caused by a bacterium (leptospira) that urban rodents eliminate through their urine, contaminating the environment. The bacterium remains in water and moist media, such as mud, and it constitutes a threat for those who practise water sports. However, not only are water sport athletes exposed to the disease butthe Occupational Hazards Act (24,557 Act) considers leptospirosis a professional disease that may affect rural workers, garbage collectors, members of the armed forces, cold-store workers, and vets, among others.

“There is not much knowledge on the risks of leptospirosis transmission,” warns Sonia Tarragona, General Manager at Mundo Sano, a foundation that carries our research on leptospirosis and other neglected diseases. “Not only those individuals who practice water sports are at risk, but also are individuals who live in deficient infrastructure areas, who suffer floods, who are surrounded by an important amount of garbage, with a strong presence of rodents and limited chances of having access to health care,” assures Tarragona.

Rodents do not suffer from the disease but do transmit it through water and contaminated humid soils to other animals and human beings, through skin lesions or superficial mucosa. Initially, clinic manifestations in humans may be taken by flue symptoms. This misinterpretation, together with the lack of knowledge about the disease, in many cases, delays the first consultation with the specialist. Upon hospitalization, 65% of the individuals affected in our country are admitted with pneumonia; an important percentage worsens and suffers pulmonary hemorrhage with respiratory distress, and there is a mortality rate of fifty percent of the cases. Report and notification of leptospirosis is compulsory. Even if there are vaccines for humans and animals (large and small), its application is not compulsory. At the global level, leptospirosis affects one million people annually due to outbreaks or isolated cases.