Re-emerging of infections in urban India--focus leptospirosis.

*Professor, Department of Medicine, BYL Nair Hospital and TN College, Mumbai. **Hon. Asst. Prof., Department of Medicine, Grant Medical College & Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai. One of the major success stores against infection diseases in the 20th Century is hampered by reemergence of old ones and with co-occurrence of new disease as well as drug resistance strains. Several bacterial diseases are re-emerging due to poor public health measures. Both microbial expertise and epidemiological surveillance are deficient in general health care and public health system in India; therefore infections disease that have been under control elsewhere remain prevalent in the country, but are also under diagnosed and under reported. Also empirical antimicrobial policy, lack of pharmacy vigilance and over the counter prescriptions lead to masking of clinical features. Further despite of advances in laboratory medicine, several tests though now available particularly for serodiagnosis; need validation. In the last few decades diseases like malaria, leptospira, dengue, anthrax, salmonella have re-emerged and multidrug resistant strains of HIV, Salmonelia, Ecoli, TB are on the rise.