Cablegate: H1n1 Update: First Death As Germany Hits 20,000 Mark

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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDF RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB
RUEHPOD RUEHSL RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHRL #1201 2711539
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281539Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5326
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0270
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0416
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0860
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1566

UNCLAS BERLIN 001201

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: FIRST DEATH AS GERMANY HITS 20,000 MARK

REF: A) Berlin 1163, B) Berlin 1115 and previous.

1. (U) SUMMARY: The number of confirmed H1N1 infections in
Germany rose by 175 cases over the weekend to a total of
20,068 on September 28. Germany reported its first suspected
H1N1 death. END SUMMARY

2. (U) At its September 28 press briefing, the National
Reference Center for Influenza at the Robert Koch Institute
(RKI) confirmed a total of 175 new (laboratory and non-
laboratory) H1N1 cases in Germany over the weekend, increasing
the total number of H1N1 cases to 20,068. New cases were
distributed among the eleven federal states as follows:
Bavaria (47), North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) (22), Baden-
Wuerttemberg (21), Brandenburg (17), Lower-Saxony (13), Hesse
(15), Thuringia (13), Saxony-Anhalt (13) and Rhineland-
Palatinate (8), Schleswig-Holstein (5) and Bremen (1).

3. (U) According to RKI, only 45 of the total 175 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 5,750, followed by
Baden-Wuerttemberg (3,072 cases) and Lower-Saxony (2,734).
The number of all confirmed infections in Germany that have
resulted from domestic transmission is 30 percent.

First German H1N1 Death
-----------------------

5. (U) According to information from RKI, a 36-year old woman
from Gelsenkirchen (North Rhine-Westphalia) is the first
person in Germany to die from the virus. She died on September
25 from what appear to be complications from the H1N1 virus.
The woman was considered a "risk patient" in a hospital in
Essen and had underlying health conditions (diabetes,
overweight, smoker, lung problems). According to RKI, H1N1
was found in her blood and is considered a factor in her
death. RKI sought to reassure the public that there is no
need to panic, clarifying that in Germany, 8,000 to 11,000
patients die every year from seasonal influenza.

MURPHY

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