This year, mouse fever was confirmed in five patients in Srpska, while according to the Institute for Public Health of RS, one younger person died, which is why experts warn residents who spend time in nature to take more care about protection.
Experts say that during this period there is a high possibility of infection with a virus that circulates among rodents.
The Institute pointed out to “Glas” that, according to the currently available data, one person suffering from hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, which is known as mouse fever, is being treated at the hospital.
Infected rodents, as they explain, mostly have no symptoms, but rather excrete the causative agents into the external environment via saliva, urine and feces, thereby contaminating land, water, objects and food.
“Humans become infected through direct or indirect contact with infected animals, i.e. by inhaling contaminated dust or using food and water contaminated with fresh excreta of infected rodents, as well as during direct contact. Until now, human-to-human transmission is unknown,” she told “Glas” epidemiologist at the Jelena Đaković Dević Institute.
The disease begins, he emphasizes, with high fever, intense headache, back and abdominal pain, fever, nausea and blurred vision.
“Redness of the face and conjunctiva and spotty bleeding on the skin may appear. In the case of the development of more severe forms of the disease, damage to kidney function and bleeding in various organs develops. The disease can be mild, but also with a severe clinical picture, because of bleeding and kidney failure can end in death,” said Đaković Dević.
According to Antonija Verhaz, head of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases of the RS University Clinical Center, out of five serologically confirmed mouse fever diagnoses, three patients are from Teslić, and one each from Banjaluka and Čelinac.
“Persons suffering from this disease are necessarily hospitalized, and one patient is currently undergoing hospital treatment,” Verhazova pointed out.
Given that there is no vaccine to prevent murine fever, Verhaz said that certain measures should be taken to reduce and eliminate the risk.
“Prior travelers should protect their food and drink from rodents from nature and try to avoid lying on the forest floor, drinking water from unregulated forest sources and touching dead forest animals,” Verhazova told “Glas”.
She added that people who have woodsheds, storerooms or barns next to the building should pay attention to the obligatory washing of hands after every activity in these buildings, also, during their possible cleaning, the creation of dust should be avoided as much as possible, since the soil and surrounding objects can be contaminated. excreta of mouse-like rodents.
“This can be achieved by using a light mask over the mouth and nose and by wet and careful cleaning. All food must be kept away from the access of rodents,” she stressed.
Rajko Roljić, senior assistant at the Department of Zoology at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Banja Luka, said that farmers, hunters, and people who live in forest areas professionally or for other reasons are at the greatest risk.
“It is important to emphasize that the infection is not transmitted between people,” Roljić said.
According to Roljić, the increase in the number of patients occurs in years of high abundance of the mentioned rodents, i.e. “mouse years”.
“Such a year in which an infestation of mice and other mouse-like rodents occurs is associated with the previous mild winter, in which mice can reproduce and food is better available,” Roljić pointed out.
Statistics
The Institute for Public Health of the RS points out that last year three patients with hemorrhagic fever with kidney syndrome were registered. In the period from 2018 to 2022, the largest number was registered in 2019, when 18 patients were reported.
(World)