Dr. Natalie Marks Offers a 101 on Leptospirosis

Dr. Natalie Marks

Dr. Natalie Marks says leptospirosis is her favorite disease to talk about – and she explains why she’s positively giddy talking lepto.

Dr. Marks offers a 101 on this bacterial disease, and how urban wildlife (particularly city rats) and farm animals can spread to dogs. And it’s everywhere, from even Phoenix to Chicago.

Potentially you can get leptospirosis too, which is estimated that one million severe cases occur every year, causing about 58,900 deaths around the world. The disease is most common in tropical areas of the world but may occur anywhere including anywhere in the U.S.

Marks is a fan of EDGE  Lepto 4, a half mil vaccine because there’s not quite as much discomfort for the dog and the vaccine protects against the four most common serovars or types of leptospirosis.

Once it was the larger hunting dogs which leptospirosis was most common. Today, the breed most often exposed happens to be Yorkshire Terriers, and lots of other small breeds too, again reiterating that today lepto is an urban issue even more than a rural problem.