H1N1 UPDATE: 4,445 CONFIRMED CASES

UNCLAS BERLIN 000906 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: 4,445 CONFIRMED CASES REF: A) Berlin 903, B) Berlin 899 and previous. ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The number of H1N1 infections in Germany rose by 635 cases to a total of 4,445 on July 29. The majority of new infections occurred abroad, mainly during travel to Spain. Germany's statutory health insurance agencies are examining raising insurance premiums to pay for the widespread immunization campaign planned for the fall. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) At its July 29 press briefing, the National Reference Center for Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced 635 new (laboratory and non-laboratory) confirmed cases of H1N1. This increases the total number of H1N1 cases to 4,445. New cases were distributed among fourteen federal states: North Rhine-Westphalia (293),Lower-Saxony (107), Baden-Wuerttemberg (64),Hesse (59),Bavaria (55),Berlin (7), Rhineland-Palatinate (11),Saxony-Anhalt (11),Saxony (10), Bremen (7),Thuringia (4),Hamburg (3),Brandenburg (3) and Schleswig-Holstein (1). ¶3. (U) According to RKI, the increase in the number of infections is mainly due to people returning from travel abroad (384 new cases, which represents 80 percent),with most of the reported infections occurring while in Spain. Newly confirmed cases include laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 as well as non-laboratory-confirmed cases, mainly from people who have showed symptoms after being in contact with a patient who has been tested positive at a labor for the new virus. So far, all cases are reportedly mild. ¶4. (U) North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) remains the German state with the highest number of virus cases among all German states with a total of 1698 (38 percent of German cases),followed by Lower-Saxony (902) and Baden-Wuerttemberg (391 cases). Less than 23 percent (982) of all confirmed infections in Germany have resulted from domestic transmission. Dispute over flu shot payments -------------- ¶5. (U) Germany's public health insurance agencies are considering raising insurance premiums to pay for the large scale seasonal influenza vaccinations planned for the fall. The health ministry recently announced that the statutory health insurance agencies would cover the costs for the vaccine and the vaccination which are planned for the fall (free of charge for the population). Media reports indicate that the government plans to enact a corresponding ordinance in August. However, health insurance agencies have now called on the German government to share the costs which are reportedly expected to total approximately 600 million euros. In response, Ministry of Health State Secretary Theo Schroeder said that the health care stock is sufficient to cover the costs. He also referred to the health care reforms of 2007 that require public health insurance agencies to pay for vaccinations. BRADTKE