Weil's Disease symptoms after child gets 'serious infection' from river swimming

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An alert has been issued by a local authority after a child fell seriously ill from swimming in a river in England.Dedham Parish Council in Essex revealed that the student "suffered a severe infection after swimming in the River Stour at Dedham, and has been very poorly".The council confirmed it as a case of Weil's disease (leptospirosis), which can be extremely serious, Bristol Live reports.

The disease is transmitted through the urine of infected animals, including rats, mice, cows, pigs, and dogs.Weil's disease can be contracted if soil or freshwater, such as river water containing infected urine, enters the mouth, eyes, or a cut.

According to the NHS, while most people with Weil's disease experience no symptoms or mild flu-like symptoms, some become seriously ill.Symptoms may include high temperature, headache, body aches and pain, stomach ache, nausea or vomiting, diarrhoea, redness in the white part of your eyes and yellowing of the skin or white part of the eyes.

Those who may have been exposed to infected urine and are displaying symptoms are advised to see a GP.These symptoms typically appear within 2 to 30 days after exposure and can last from a few days to a week:After a brief improvement, some individuals experience more severe symptoms as the disease progresses:In its most severe form, Weil's disease can lead to life-threatening complications such as:In milder cases, symptoms can resemble the flu and may clear up on their own, often without the individual realising they had leptospirosis.Diagnosis typically involves blood tests to detect antibodies against Leptospira bacteria or PCR tests to identify bacterial DNA.