H1N1 UPDATE: 13,180 CONFIRMED CASES

UNCLAS BERLIN 001014 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/CE PETER SCHROEDER STATE FOR OES/IHB STATE FOR AID/GH/HIDN USDA PASS TO APHIS HHS PASS TO CDC HHS FOR OGHA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KFLU ECON PREL SOCI CASC EAGR MX GM SUBJECT: H1N1 UPDATE: 13,180 CONFIRMED CASES REF: A) Berlin 1007, B) Berlin 1012 and previous. ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The number of confirmed H1N1 infections in Germany increased over yesterday by 350 new cases, bringing the total as of August 20 to 13,180. Germany ranks first in confirmed virus infections among European countries. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) At its August 20 press briefing, the National Reference Center for Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed a total of 350 new (laboratory and non-laboratory) H1N1 cases in Germany, increasing the total number of H1N1 cases to 13,180. New cases were distributed among the federal states as follows: Bavaria (118),Baden-Wuerttemberg (107), Lower-Saxony (40),North Rhine-Westphalia (37),Saxony (16), Hamburg (11),Hesse (8),Brandenburg (3),Rhineland-Palatinate (3),Saxony-Anhalt (3),Bremen (2),Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (1) and Thuringia (1) ¶4. (U) According to RKI, 273 of the total 350 new cases are attributed to people returning from travel abroad. New cases include non-laboratory H1N1 cases that exhibited symptoms after being in contact with a laboratory confirmed infected person. ¶5. (U) North Rhine-Westphalia remains the German state with the highest number of confirmed virus cases with a total of 4,519, followed by Lower-Saxony (2,225) and Baden- Wuerttemberg (1,628 cases). About 23 percent (3,023) of all confirmed infections in Germany have resulted from domestic transmission. ¶6. (U) For the first time since the H1N1 outbreak in April, Germany has reported more H1N1 infections than any of its European neighbors, passing even the UK. Nevertheless, we are aware of no deaths in Germany due to the virus. POLLARD