A patient admitted to Førde central hospital is infected with rabies. This is the first time since 1815 that a man on mainland Norway has contracted rabies.
The patient was bitten by a dog while on a holiday trip to Asia two months ago, writes Bergens Tidende.
Samples were taken and sent for analysis to Sweden, and the analyzes confirm what the hospital suspected.
“Through these test results, we have now confirm that the diagnosis is rabies,” says Trine Hunskår Vingsnes, Vice President.
It was earlier this week that the hospital got to know of the dog bite, and Thursday the samples were sent to Sweden, as Norway does not carry out such analyzes.
The patient has gradually deteriorated and is now seriously ill.
Several others in the travel party must also have been in contact with the dog, and Helse Førde has notified infection control in their home municipalities.
Rabies is a very serious viral disease that attacks the nervous system and which is transmitted from animals to humans. Rabies have not been reported to infect humans.
The prevalence of rabies is common in many parts of the world, but in Norway, rabies has not been detected in humans on mainland since 1815, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
