A Romanian pilot arrived at the Bacau Emergency County Hospital in a bad condition, on Monday evening, July 6, after spending five days at home with the fever and general malaise. The pilot, who recently returned from Mozambique, Africa, was later diagnosed with malaria and transferred to a hospital in Bucharest.

“The pilot, aged 46, was admitted to the hospital in Bacau. After being diagnosed, doctors decided to urgently transfer him to Victor Babes Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Bucharest. It is the fifteenth case of malaria admitted to the Victor Babes hospital in 2015,” said Corneliu Popescu, medical director of the hospital in Bucharest, cited by local Mediafax.

The current condition of the pilot was not made public, but Popescu said that 99% of all malaria cases admitted to Victor Babes Hospital came from Africa. An average of 30 to 40 malaria cases arrive at the hospital annually, and all patients have been cured so far.

Malaria is an infectious disease, most commonly transmitted by an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The disease causes symptoms that usually include fever, fatigue, vomiting and headaches. The disease is transmitted by the biting of mosquitos, and the symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com