GERMANY H1N1 FLU UPDATE: 17 CONFIRMED CASES

UNCLAS BERLIN 000626 SENSITIVE 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: GERMANY H1N1 FLU UPDATE: 17 CONFIRMED CASES REF: A) Berlin 545, B) Berlin 537, C) Berlin 526 D) Berlin 518, E) Berlin 512, F) Berlin 495, G) Berlin 488 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On May 22, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed three additional cases of A/H1N1 Influenza in Germany, increasing the total number of confirmed cases to seventeen. Of the three new cases, a six-year-old girl who attends a day care center in Duesseldorf contracted the virus - presumably from her parents. In response, the day care has shut down operations for the next two weeks. This is the first reported child case of H1N1 in Germany. END SUMMARY. Three new cases of H1N1 in North Rhine-Westphalia -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) A German couple from the state of North Rhine- Westphalia and their 6-year-old daughter tested positive for H1N1. The couple also has a four-year-old daughter that has not yet caught the virus. RKI reports that the couple returned to Germany from New York last week but their daughters did not accompanied them. The media reported the mother experienced flu like symptoms a few days after her return. In the case of the infected child, RKI report this as Germany's fifth example of human-to-human infection of the virus. First Mass Exposure to Children -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The media reported that the day care center the girl attended closed as a precautionary measure to avoid further spread of the disease. 34 children from the day care were sent home and parents were advised to be on the lookout for developing symptoms. Children without symptoms are advised to remain at home until June 2 as certainty regarding a potential infection can only be determined at the earliest, by May 29. Three Germans Infected - Two while in the US -------------- ¶4. (SBU) These cases mark the second and third German travelers to be infected with the new virus in the US, officials from RKI announced today. Nine of the other confirmed cases were from people who had recently returned from Mexico; five were human-to-human transmissions in Germany. KOENIG