H1N1 UPDATE: 17,644 CONFIRMED CASES

UNCLAS BERLIN 001104 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 GM SUBJECT: H1N1 UPDATE: 17,644 CONFIRMED CASES REF: A) Berlin 1096, B) Berlin 1089 and previous. ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The number of confirmed H1N1 infections in Germany rose by 379 cases to 17,644 on September 9. Germany plans to order an additional 18 million courses of H1N1 vaccine. END SUMMARY ¶2. (U) At its September 9 press briefing, the National Reference Center for Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed a total of 379 new (laboratory and non- laboratory) H1N1 cases in Germany over yesterday, increasing the total number of H1N1 cases to 17,644. New cases were distributed among all twelve federal states as follows: North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (150),Baden-Wuerttemberg (50),Hesse (48),Bavaria (47),Lower-Saxony (25),Saxony-Anhalt (15), Berlin (11),Rhineland-Palatinate (6),Saarland (6),Bremen (5),Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (5) and Hamburg (1). ¶3. (U) According to RKI, 183 of the total 379 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 5,388, followed by Baden-Wuerttemberg (2,698 cases) and Lower-Saxony (2,556). The number of all confirmed infections in Germany that have resulted from domestic transmission is 26 percent. Germany to order additional A/H1N1 vaccine -------------- ¶5. (U) Germany plans to place a second order of A/H1N1 vaccine. State-level health ministers agreed on September 7 in Berlin to order an additional 18 million courses of the vaccine against the new flu. In July, Germany made a first order of 50 million courses (two doses per course for each person) for vaccination of 30 percent of the population (25 million people). With the additional order, Germany would be able to provide vaccination to a total of 34 million people, representing about 41 percent of the population. MURPHY