The Directorate of Public Health (DSP) Cluj announces, Friday, December 12, that a second case of leprosy has been confirmed.
The information comes after Thursday, December 11, the first case of this disease detected in our country in the last 44 years was announced.
The second case of leprosy confirmed in Romania
"On 11.12.2025 a case of leprosy (Hansen's disease) was confirmed, and today, 12.12.2025, the second case of leprosy was confirmed, and two other cases are undergoing clinical and microbiological evaluation, based on skin lesions and epidemiological criteria.
All four people are female, originally from Asia, employed as masseuses at a SPA salon in Cluj-Napoca. The first two patients, aged 21 and 25, presented themselves at SCJU Cluj on November 26, 2025.
They were subjected to specific medical investigations on the basis of which the two cases were confirmed, and the other two cases are under clinical and epidemiological monitoring", it is stated, on Friday, in a press release posted on the DSP Cluj website.
The cited institution also states that for the confirmed cases "specific WHO treatment" for leprosy has been started. "According to international protocols, after the initiation of treatment, the risk of transmission decreases until it disappears," the DSP also announces.
Measures have been taken to limit the risks
DSP Cluj also conveys that it has taken "firm measures" to limit any risk. Namely:
- suspension of salon activity until the epidemiological investigation is completed,
- disinfection with ozone in all spaces used in the salon where the persons concerned worked;
– checking of changing rooms and individual storage spaces;
- intensification of sanitization procedures with approved biocides;
- scheduling employees for a medical check-up at the occupational medicine doctor;
- expanding the epidemiological investigation
- intensification of epidemiological surveillance
– clinical monitoring of cases and suspects
– extension of contact testing
- assessment of working and living conditions of foreign employees.
DSP emphasizes that "the risk to the general population remains low and the situation is handled with utmost responsibility”.
What the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday evening about the first confirmed case of leprosy
The Ministry of Health (MOH), led by Alexandru Rogobete, informed on the evening of December 11 that a case of leprosy (Hansen's disease) was confirmed on Thursday and that three other cases were undergoing clinical and microbiological evaluation, "based on skin lesions and epidemiological criteria".
According to the Ministry of Health, it is about four women, originally from Asia, employed as masseuses at a SPA salon in Cluj-Napoca.
"The two patients who initially presented themselves at SCJU Cluj, on 26.11.2025, aged 21 and 25, come from Indonesia. They were subjected to the following investigations:
• skin tissue biopsy – positive microscopy for BAAR (3 BAAR/100 fields) in the first case;
• GeneXpert MTB/Rif ULTRA genetic test – Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex not detected, excluding tuberculosis;
• histopathological samples and Ziehl-Neelsen smears – in progress, targeting Mycobacterium leprae infection.
Based on the microbiological data, one of the cases was confirmed today, and three others are under clinical and epidemiological monitoring", the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday, December 11.
MS: Leprosy, a disease with slow evolution and low contagiousness
"Leprosy is a disease of slow progression and low contagiousness. Transmission requires prolonged exposure.
The disease is NOT transmitted by:
• handshake,
• hug,
• journeys in public transport,
• short proximity,
• the use of common spaces", said the representatives of the Ministry of Health.
In Romania, the last case of leprosy (Hansen's disease) was diagnosed in 1981.
