Budapest (MTI) – A young Afghan man is being treated for Malaria in a Budapest hospital, the hospital’s department chief told public news channel M1 on Wednesday evening.
The man crossed to Hungary as member of a larger group of migrants at Roszke at the border with Serbia on Tuesday, Janos Szlavik, the infectologist of the St Istvan and St Laszlo hospitals, told the programme.
The man developed fever during registration and was taken to hospital in the city of Szeged where he tested positive for Malaria, Szlavik said.
The man is in satisfactory condition and is under medical care in an isolated ward, he added.
He is believed to have contracted Malaria already in Afghanistan, but produced symptoms only now since the disease has a long incubation time, said Szlavik.
The Afghan man is the fourth migrant patient treated for Malaria this year, he said, adding that all four patients will recover.
Malaria is transmitted by a mosquito species that is absent in Hungary, Szlavik said, noting that it does not spread from human to human which means that the cases in Hungary do not pose a threat to the public.
St Laszlo hospital treats 10-15 Malaria patients a year on average, he said.