The Cluj Public Health Department announces on Friday that the second case of leprosy has been confirmed in Romania.
„Two other cases are currently under clinical and microbiological evaluation, based on skin lesions and epidemiological criteria. All four individuals are female, originating from Asia, employed as masseuses at a SPA salon in Cluj-Napoca. The first two patients, aged 21 and 25, presented themselves at the Cluj County Hospital on November 26, 2025,” announces the Cluj Public Health Department.
The Manager of the "Victor Babeș" Infectious Diseases Hospital, Prof. Dr. Simin Aysel Florescu, maintains that the occurrence of leprosy cases does not represent a major threat to the population and that the disease is treatable, with contagion decreasing immediately after therapy begins.
The doctor emphasizes that the majority of cases worldwide come from Asia, where the disease is still endemic.
"There is nothing tragic or threatening for the Romanian population, these cases of leprosy have always existed, even Romania was a country with leprosy until the '80s. It is a case coming from Indonesia, nothing surprising," states Dr. Florescu, for News.ro.
She explains that it is most likely a tuberculoid form, a mild one, which causes few lesions and has an extremely low risk of transmission.
According to the specialist, transmission requires direct, close, and prolonged contact, generally between people living together "for weeks, months, years." The disease does not spread like a common respiratory infection: "It is not something like having the flu, in no way."
How leprosy manifests and what the severe form is
Dr. Florescu explains that leprosy has several forms:
- Tuberculoid form - the most common, mild, with few lesions, sometimes difficult to identify even by biopsy.
- Lepromatous form - the most severe, with disseminated lesions on the body, ocular and respiratory involvement, and facial deformities. "We do not see such cases in Europe," says the doctor, as these patients are in serious condition and cannot travel.
Between these extremes, there are intermediate forms that progress slowly.
Effective treatment, administered orally
The therapy consists of a combination of three antibiotics, administered orally, which reduce contagion "extremely rapidly."
"It is a combination of three antibiotics... they have an extremely rapid and efficient effect on the disease, meaning the person who starts treatment no longer transmits," explains Prof. Dr. Florescu.
The treatment lasts between six months and a year, depending on the form of the disease. There is no vaccine.
Globally, according to the WHO, around 174,000 cases were reported last year, with 130,000 in Asia.
Cases in Cluj: four employees of a SPA
Here are the current data:
- two confirmed leprosy cases in Romania,
- two suspicions are under analysis,
- all four individuals are employees of a SPA center in Cluj-Napoca and are of Asian origin.
The salon's activity has been suspended until the completion of the epidemiological investigation and sanitation procedures. The patients have already started the treatment recommended by the WHO, and with its administration, "the risk of transmission decreases until it disappears."
The last case of leprosy in Romania was confirmed in 1981.