Published Date: 2010-07-29 20:00:04
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Hantavirus update 2010 - Europe (04): Germany
Archive Number: 20100729.2546

HANTAVIRUS UPDATE 2010 - EUROPE (04): GERMANY
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Date: Tue 27 Jul 2010
Source: SWR.de [in German, trans. Sr Tech.Ed.MJ, edited]
<http://www.swr.de/nachrichten/bw/-/id=1622/nid=1622/did=6697112/1hg1u6b/>


The number of infections with [a] hantavirus in Baden-Wurttemberg has
increased rapidly during the 1st months of the year [2010]. According
to the authorities, 736 people have been infected with [a] hantavirus
so far this year [2010] in Baden-Wurttemberg. That is 100 times more
than in the same period last year [2009].

In Pforzheim, a young woman may have died from the infection with the
virus. More studies are being conducted currently to determine the
cause of [her] death. "There is this suspect case," a state health
department spokesman confirmed on Tuesday [27 Jul 2010] in Stuttgart.
Whether the woman was infected with the virus and died of it, as the
Pforzheimer Zeitung reported, is still under consideration. The
results of the investigation are expected in about a week. The woman
was the 2nd hantavirus death in Baden-Wurttemberg this year [2010]. In
January 2010, a death was notified in the district of Ludwigsburg. The
last death from the virus [infection] in Baden-Wurttemberg was a man
in 2001.

The current accumulation [of cases] is probably due to the fact that
the red-backed vole [probably the bank vole, _Myodes glareolus_,
formerly _Clethrionomys glareolus_) has very much increased as a
result of good food conditions. These animals transmit the virus
through their feces and urine. Especially during the cold winter,
people go into basements, attics, or barns, where the mice seek
shelter and contact with the virus is increased.

The [virus infection] causes high fever, severe headache, body aches
and stomach aches. There was a similar wave of hantavirus infections
in 2007, but the national public health authorities spokesperson said
the number of cases would probably not be as high this year as it was
then.

--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[This has been an active year for human hantavirus infections in
Germany. The hantavirus involved in these cases is most likely Puumala
virus. _Myodes glareolus_ is a recognized Puumala virus reservoir in
Germany.

An image of the bank vole can be accessed at
<http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/bank-vole:clethrionomys-glareolus-photo-2969.html>.

A political map of Germany showing the regions mentioned can be accessed at
<http://www.in-germany.co.uk/political-map-of-germany.html>.
A HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Germany can be accessed at
<http://healthmap.org/r/00aX>. - Mod.TY]

See Also

Hantavirus update 2010 - Europe (03): Germany 20100520.1668
Hantavirus update 2010 - Europe (02): Germany (BY) 20100427.1354
Hantavirus update 2010 - Europe: Germany (BW) 20100226.0642
2007
----
Puumala virus infections - Germany 20070506.1463
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