Leptospirosis: report of one case.

An 8-year-old male aborigine was referred to our hospital with a presumptive diagnosis of Kawasaki disease. The major symptom presented was a persistent fever for six days. Several other symptoms were drowsiness, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nuchal rigidity, lymphadenopathy, subconjunctival hemorrhage, and muscle aching of the calf. During hospitalization, cerebrospinal fluid studies showed pleocytosis. Abdominal sonograms revealed hepatosplenomegaly, moderate ascites and gallbladder wall thickening. These data were suggestive of leptospirosis. The microscopic agglutination test of leptospiral antibodies further confirmed the diagnosis. After treatment with intravenous aqueous penicillin and gentamicin, the clinical course improved significantly.