Minister Hasanović: Institute of Public Health of Sarajevo Canton requested declaration of epidemic in CS due to leptospirosis

(Patria) - Deputy Speaker of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly Danijela Kristić submitted an initiative requesting a chemical analysis of water samples in Dobrinja following the outbreak of leptospirosis in Sarajevo.

As she stated, she requests that microbiological and chemical analysis of water samples be performed from several points in Dobrinja, including public fountains if any, kindergartens, schools, and public facilities and individual households, especially near the locations where cases of the disease have been recorded.

She also requests that the condition of local reservoirs and pipelines leading to the Dobrinja settlement be checked, in order to rule out the possibility of contamination within the water supply network, but also to carry out sanitary supervision and deratization of the area, considering that the source of infection is most often associated with the presence of rodents.

Minister of Health of CS Enis Hasanović stated that spring deratization was carried out in CS, while corrective deratization was also performed in the Dobrinja area where cases of infection were detected.

"Before this, corrective deratization was carried out in that area because the need for additional deratization arose in many places due to unmown grass and waste. Property owners are also obliged to carry out deratization. Ten patients were examined at the Clinical Center, and leptospirosis was confirmed in ten. Currently, only one patient is in the Infectious Diseases Clinic, and there were no patients with a severe clinical picture," said Hasanović.

He added that the Institute of Public Health of CS requested that an epidemic be declared in that narrow area of Dobrinja, but that the Institute itself will provide more information at a press conference today.

"This is a process that goes through us, and then to the federal minister. We are requesting that extraordinary measures be taken for mowing grass, waste removal, and terrain cleaning, and repeated deratization. This sometimes occurs in some areas for rodent development," said Hasanović.