Four cases of extremely contagious infections were reported across Moldova in July and August. The National Public Health Center said two cases of tularemia were recorded in Cahul and two cases of leptospirosis in Briceni and Chisinau.
Both tularemia and leptospirosis are classified in Moldova as “extremely contagious natural agent-borne diseases”, meaning that they are spread by rats, ticks or mosquitoes.
In Cahul, two men got tularemia after fishing in the Prut lowlands, in the vicinity of a wastewater treatment plant. The men reported being bitten by mosquitoes and leeches, with the bites being the most likely entry sites of the infection.
Five days later they developed the symptoms associated with the disease: fatigue, shivering and 38-39oC fever. One sufferer developed ulcerations on his legs and hands. After receiving specific treatment, both patients were discharged in a satisfactory condition.
Tularemia is a plague-like infectious disease that affects the lymphatic system. It causes fever and sometimes ulceration at the site of entry and swelling of nearby lymph nodes. It can also cause severe pneumonia. The main sources of infection are rodents such as muskrats and water rats, mice and hares. The disease can be caught through direct contact with the rodents, when swimming or fishing in unauthorized places, through contaminated water, or by eating insufficiently cooked contaminated flesh. The disease can be also transmitted by insects and ticks. Survival rates are very small if the disease if left untreated.
Preventive measures include protecting bodies of water from contamination from husbandry facilities and keeping rodents away from water supply sources and food.
