In the past 24 hours, five patients with clinical symptoms indicating possible leptospirosis infection were examined at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases of the University Clinical Center in Sarajevo. In addition, a cleaning campaign has begun in the localities of the Novi Grad Municipality. Leptospirosis has also been registered in the Republika Srpska. Three infected people are in Banja Luka, and one each in Doboj and Foča.
The Sarajevo Canton Public Health Institute has so far received 22 reports of leptospirosis, which have been confirmed. According to data from the Institute of Health of the Republika Srpska, the first cases of leptospirosis in this entity appeared in January. The message is clear – there is no room for panic.
“In the Republika Srpska, since the beginning of 2025, three cases of leptospirosis have been registered without an epidemic outbreak and spread over several months, starting in January when we had one case, and now until April when we also had one case,” said the Head of the Epidemiology Service at the Institute of Public Health of the RS, Dr. Nina Rodić.
“There is never room for panic, not even when the situation is serious, because it can lead to irrational responses and reactions. Citizens and the public know that we all need to take the aforementioned hygiene measures and raise the culture of living to a slightly higher level,” says the director of the Institute of Public Health of the Canton of Sarajevo, Dr. Zlatan Hamza.
A spring cleaning campaign has begun in the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo, along with an extraordinary campaign that began after the leptospirosis epidemic was declared in the Canton of Sarajevo.
“We have very good synergy when it comes to working with other utility companies, this is an extraordinary cleaning campaign that is underway, and the results are visible,” says the director of the Cantonal Public Utility Company “Rad” Mirsad Jašarević.
BHRT team visited Dobrinja, a Sarajevo neighborhood where the first cases were recorded. Here’s what the citizens say.
“So the streets are not being cleaned, the garbage is not being taken out on time, the grass is not being mowed, and the rodent control is not being carried out on time”;
“There’s probably a lot to clean about these, we need better, these containers”;
“Here, I can take you to see them now. Containers have been standing in Omera Hajama Street for months, half beds, half this, half that. People can’t put them in that garbage dump.”
We visited this location, as well as one location in Alipašino Polje. The sight we found was a pile of bulky and construction waste. We also asked the authorities about this problem.
“Bulk waste, construction waste and any other type of such waste can be left completely free of charge in our recycling yards,” said the director of the KJKP “Rad” Mirsad Jašarević.
Another problem is that systematic deratization has not been carried out for two years. We remind you that the decision to declare a leptospirosis epidemic in the Sarajevo Canton was made on Friday.
