Firefighter from Caraș-Severin, hospitalized with suspected hantavirus. The samples were sent to the Cantacuzino Institute

A 45-year-old firefighter from Caraș-Severin county is admitted to the Infectious Diseases Department of the Reșita County Emergency Hospital with the suspicion of a hantavirus infection. The biological samples were sent to the “Cantacuzino” Institute in Bucharest to confirm the diagnosis, Radio Romania and News.ro report.

According to some medical sources, the man recently traveled to Serbia. After returning to the country, he presented with a persistent fever and presented himself to the hospital.

Doctors at the hospital took samples that they sent to the “Cantacuzino” Institute in Bucharest, to confirm the diagnosis, after preliminary tests indicated the presence of hantavirus.

“The suspicion was raised two days ago of the presence of a case of hantavirus in the infectious diseases department. Dr. Rahela Constantin raised this suspicion, the samples were collected. The samples are only performed at the Cantacuzino Institute. For now, it is only a suspicion,” Cristian Toader told Radio Romania Reșita.

According to him, the patient does not present, at this moment, lung or kidney damage, specific to serious forms of the disease.

“The lung damage is not much, neither is the kidney. Even if it is a hantavirus infection, it is at the beginning or it is a milder form”, explained the manager of the medical unit.

Another case was recently confirmed in Romania

The suspicion from Reșita appears shortly after the confirmation of another case of hantavirus infection in western Romania. The Cantacuzino Institute confirmed on Monday that a patient hospitalized at the Arad County Emergency Hospital is infected with hantavirus.

However, it is about “strains circulating in Romania and Europe”, which are not transmitted from person to person, according to the National Institute of Public Health (INSP).

“The case has nothing to do with the outbreak identified on board the cruise ship with the Andes virus (Hantavirus) that circulates only in South America. We note that the patient is stable, conscious and cooperative,” INSP representatives said in a statement.

There are international concerns about hantavirus after three passengers died on a cruise between Argentina and Cape Verde.