Leptospirosis in the seafaring industry

Leptospirosis in the seafaring industry
Dennis Gorecho - August 25, 2018 https://www.panaynews.net/leptospirosis-in-the-seafaring-industry/

BECAUSE of their work’s nature, seafarers are bound to visit many ports in different parts of the world and are thus exposed to various pandemic and epidemic diseases.

One of the infections that a seafarer may suffer while on board the vessel is leptospirosis. It is an infection caused by corkscrew–shaped bacteria called Leptospira.

Leptospiral infection in humans causes a range of symptoms, and some infected persons may have no symptoms at all.

Leptospirosis is a biphasic disease that begins suddenly with fever accompanied by chills, intense headache, severe myalgia (muscle ache), abdominal pain, conjunctival suffusion (red eye), and occasionally a skin rash. The symptoms appear after an incubation period of seven to 12 days.

It is often transmitted by animal urine or by water or soil containing animal urine coming into contact with breaks in the skin, eyes, mouth, or nose. It is contagious as long as the urine is still moist.

Rats, mice and moles are important primary hosts but a wide range of other mammals including dogs, deer, rabbits, cows, sheep, and certain marine mammals carry and transmit the disease as secondary hosts.

The classic form of severe leptospirosis is known as Weil’s disease, which is characterized by liver damage (causing jaundice), kidney failure, and bleeding.

Additionally, the heart and brain can be affected, meningitis of the outer layer of the brain, encephalitis of brain tissue with same signs and symptoms; and lung affected as the most serious and life-threatening of all leptospirosis complications.

The infection is often incorrectly diagnosed due to the nonspecific symptoms. Other severe manifestations include extreme fatigue, hearing loss, respiratory distress, and azotemia.

For a sick seafarer to be entitled to medical benefits under the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration – Standard Employment Contract (POEA-SEC), he must have suffered work-related illness which is defined as any sickness resulting to disability or death as a result of one of the 24 occupational diseases listed under Section 32-A of the said contract.

It is also not sufficient to simply establish that the seafarer’s illness or injury has rendered him permanently or partially disabled; it must also be shown that there is a causal connection between the seafarer’s illness or injury and the work for which he had been contracted.

Leptospiros as one of the listed infectious diseases that a seafarer may suffer during the effectivity of his contract is a disease resulting from the presence and activity of pathogenic microbial agents in the body. Infectious diseases are recognized as an occupational hazard in seafaring and are closely connected to the conditions of working and living onboard.

It is a well-known fact that seafaring is one of the most hazardous occupations, in regards to personal health and safety concerns of seafarers. Apart from accidents, seafarers are prone to certain serious diseases and health hazards due to the nature of onboard work, change in climatic conditions, type of cargo carried, working hours, materials being handled, epidemic and endemic diseases, and personal habits.

Since one of the requirements for an illness to be compensable is that the seafarer suffered said illness during the effectivity of the POEA contract, it is imperative that his condition or symptoms be documented while he is on board the vessel, such as headaches, fever, coughs, sore throat, chills, nausea, shivering, and skin rashes.

Otherwise, his claim for disability benefits might be denied due to failure to prove that said illness occurred while his contract is still in force.