Suspicion of hantavirus in Arad, in a patient hospitalized for three years in a psychiatric unit. The announcement made by INSP
The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) announced on Friday that a suspected case of hantavirus is under investigation. The patient is hospitalized in Arad, in a stable condition.
“It is about a person hospitalized in a psychiatric unit since July 2023, with no known contact with sick or suspicious persons,” the institution said in a statement.
“The biological samples were collected and sent to the Cantacuzino Institute to confirm or deny the diagnosis. Until the laboratory results are received, the case remains classified as suspicion”, explained the INSP in the statement sent on Friday.
The official clarifications came after a patient tested positive, with a PCR test, for hantavirus, Agerpres wrote. According to the cited source, the patient was hospitalized on May 8 at the Arad County Emergency Clinical Hospital, with a fever. His condition is stable, being admitted to an infectious diseases section of the health unit.
Hantavirus on a cruise ship. Concern and research
There are international concerns about hantavirus after three passengers died on a cruise between Argentina and Cape Verde. Seven other passengers have tested positive for the virus, including a French woman currently in critical condition, while a further case, the eighth, is considered a “probable case” of hantavirus infection.
The disease is generally transmitted by infected rodents, most often through their urine, droppings and saliva.
Laboratory tests in South Africa and Switzerland confirmed that the patients on the MV Hondius were the Andzi strain, the only strain of hantavirus known to be transmitted between humans.
An Argentinian scientific mission will travel next week to Ushuaia – the place from which the MV Hondius cruise ship departed on April 1 – to investigate the possible presence of hantavirus-carrying rodents in the area.
