H1N1 UPDATE: 15,878 CONFIRMED CASES

UNCLAS BERLIN 001056 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: 15,878 CONFIRMED CASES REF: A) Berlin 1047, B) Berlin 1046 and previous. ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The number of confirmed H1N1 infections in Germany rose over the weekend to 15,878 cases on August 31. Opinion polls show that fewer Germans are interested in flu vaccination this fall/winter. Health authorities are planning an awareness campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) At its August 31 press briefing, the National Reference Center for Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed a total of 619 new (laboratory and non-laboratory) H1N1 cases in Germany over Thursday of last week, increasing the total number of H1N1 cases to 15,878. New cases were distributed among all sixteen federal states as follows: Bavaria (148),Baden-Wuerttemberg (147),North Rhine- Westphalia (NRW) (121),Rhineland-Palatinate (49),Lower- Saxony (47),Schleswig-Holstein (22),Berlin (21),Hesse (19), Hamburg (11),Saxony (9),Brandenburg (7),Saxony-Anhalt (5), Thuringia (5),Bremen (5) and Saarland (2) and Mecklenburg- Vorpommern (1). ¶3. (U) According to RKI, 385 of the total 619 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. ¶4. (U) NRW remains the German state with the highest number of confirmed virus cases with a total of 5,064, followed by Lower-Saxony (2,428) and Baden-Wuerttemberg (2,252 cases). The number of all confirmed infections in Germany that have resulted from domestic transmission increased to 25 percent. Fewer Germans Interested in Flu Vaccination -------------- ¶5. (U) An opinion poll conducted by Der Spiegel magazine shows that the majority of Germans is not interested in getting the H1N1 vaccination in fall. Only 13 percent of the Germans polled said they would get the vaccination against the new A/H1N1 influenza, and 25 percent of all interviewed said that they were considering getting it. Youth between 18 to 29 years of age were particularly hesitant about the vaccination. The Health Ministry and the Robert-Koch Institute have announced plans to launch a campaign to convince young people of the need to get flu shots. MURPHY