“In Croatia and Romania, the first cases of leprosy (leprosy) in the last 44 years were recorded, which caused a wave of concern in European medical circles. This was reported by the Croatian TV channel RTL Danas. In the Croatian city of Split, the diagnosis was confirmed in a foreign worker from Nepal who lived in the country with his family for two years. Head of Epidemiology Service of the Croatian Institute”, — write on: ua.news
In Croatia and Romania, the first cases of leprosy (leprosy) in the last 44 years were recorded, which caused a wave of concern in European medical circles.
This was reported by the Croatian TV channel RTL Danas.
In the Croatian city of Split, the diagnosis was confirmed in a foreign worker from Nepal who lived in the country with his family for two years. The head of the epidemiology service of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, Bernard Kaić, assured that the patient is already undergoing treatment, and the epidemiological investigation did not reveal any signs of infection in the persons who were in contact with him.
Almost simultaneously, on December 21, 2025, the Ministry of Health of Romania announced the discovery of two cases of the disease in the northwest of the country. Two sisters from Indonesia, who worked as massage therapists in a local spa center, fell ill. According to the investigation, the infection was introduced by one of the women after visiting relatives in Bali, where she came into contact with her sick mother, and later passed the pathogen on to her sister.
The authorities of both countries emphasize the low risk of the disease spreading among the population due to the specificity of the pathogen and rapid response:
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Temporary restrictions: The work of the Romanian spa center was suspended for disinfection, and all clients of the facility were informed about the situation.
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Absence of threat: The Minister of Health of Romania, Oleksandr Rogobete, said that there is no risk of infection for spa salon visitors, as leprosy is not transmitted through short-term household contacts.
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Features of the disease: Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae and requires prolonged and close contact with an untreated patient to become infected.
Modern medicine allows you to completely cure leprosy with the help of combined antibiotic therapy, if the diagnosis is made in time. The main difficulty remains the long incubation period, which can last from several months to 20 years, which makes it difficult to trace the source of infection. The cases in Croatia and Romania demonstrate the importance of medical monitoring of migration flows from regions where the disease is still endemic, such as Southeast Asia and parts of Africa.
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