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EBOLAVIRUS, NEEDLE STICK INJURY - GERMANY: (HAMBURG)
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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[1]
Date: Tue 17 Mar 2009
Source: N24 online [machine translated, paraphrased and edited]
<http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_4910557.html>
Woman with suspected Ebola infection
------------------------------------
An member of the Hamburg Tropical Institute has received a needle
stick injury and possibly has been infected with a dangerous
pathogen. The woman is being treated in Hamburg Universiy Hospital on
suspicion of Ebola virus infection. The victim worked in the Bernhard
Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, where last Thursday [12 Mar
2009] while working in the high security wing received a needle stick
injury despite wearing protective clothing. The woman has been
transferred to an isolation unit for treatment of the potentially
highly contagious disease. So far the patient has shown no signs of
illness. Risk of transmission of infection has been discounted.
In consultation with an international team of experts and the patient
herself [an experimental] vaccine was administered which has not been
used previously humans. Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact
with body fluids. The disease progresses to internal bleeding, and
onset of death is rapid. There is no cure; 50 to 90 percent of those
infected die. In the case of the type of Ebola virus responsible for
the Hamburg incident, mortality can be as high as 90 percent. In the
most recent major outbreaks in the Congo and in Uganda, hundreds of
people died.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
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[2]
Date: Tue 17 Mar 2009
Source: abenblatt.de [machine translated, paraphrased and edited]
<http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2009/03/17/1088430.html>
A member of the Bernhard-Nocht-Instituts fur Tropenmedizin has
received a needle stick injury from a syringe suspected to contan
Ebola virus. The woman did not leave the University hospital and was
immediately transferred to an isolation unit. In consultation with an
international team of experts and the patient herself, an
[experimental] vaccine, not previously tested in humans, was administered.
The scientist employed at the Hamburg Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for
Tropical Medicine is suspected to have been infected with the highly
dangerous Ebola virus. Last Thursday [12 Mar 2009] the woman was
working in the high security laboratory and received a needle stick
injury despite wearing protective clothing, and possibly she became
infected with Ebola virus. The victim was immediately isolated. Since
the scientist showed no symptoms of Ebola fever, it is considered
that there is no risk of onward transmission of disease.
Since Ebola virus is one of the most dangerous pathogens and in
almost 90 percent of cases leads to death, it was decided on Sat 14
Mar 2009 in consultation with a panel of experts from the U.S. and
Canada to administer a vaccine, which has never been tested a human
previuosly. Approximately 24 hours later the woman developed fever,
probably as a response to vaccination according to one doctor. In
Germany there has been no previous laboratory accident of this kind
according to Egbert Tannich of the (Bernhard-Nocht-Institute). A cure
does not exist. The mortality rate for the strain of Ebola virus
implicated in the Hamburg incident is 90 percent. In the most recent
major outbreaks, especially in the Congo and in Uganda, hundreds of
people died.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
******
[3]
Date: Tue 17 Mar 2009
Source: Blomberg.com [edited]
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aaS8q6ZRiOWQ&refer=germany>
Ebola researcher in Germany is isolated after needle puncture
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A researcher at a Hamburg laboratory was punctured with a needle that
may have contained traces of the deadly Ebola virus and was
transferred to an isolation ward following inoculation treatment, the
clinic said in a statement. The university clinic in Hamburg-
Eppendorf, which is treating the woman, ruled out any danger to the
public, according to the e-mailed statement. Ebola is an animal-borne
virus that causes high fever, diarrhea, vomiting and internal bleeding.
The woman, a scientist at the Bernhard-Nocht-Institut for tropical
medicine, was punctured through protective clothing while in a high
security laboratory on 12 Mar 2009. Though she showed no signs of
infection, a group of experts recommended an inoculation treatment
developed in the U.S., the clinic said.
The virus strain with which the unidentified woman had been working
has a mortality rate of around 90 percent. She was put into isolation
after developing a fever 24 hours later, and doctors were examining
whether the high temperature resulted from the treatment or from an
Ebola infection.
The World Health Organization said on 18 Feb 2009 that an Ebola
outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo had killed 15 people.
--
Communicated by:
Axel Pettinger
<Axel.Pettinger@t-online.de>
[It is possible that no infectious virus was transferred as a result
of the needle stick injury. However the outcome of any resultant
disease following transfer of even a small amount of Ebolavirus, and
the consequences of administration of an untried experimental
vaccine, cannot be assessed at this stage. No information has been
released regarding the identity of the strain of Ebolavirus involved
in this incident. There are 5 subtypes of Ebolavirus. Four of the 5
have caused disease in humans: Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory
Coast and Ebola-Bundibugyo. The 5th, Ebola-Reston, has caused disease
in nonhuman primates, but not in humans. Detailed information on
Ebolavirus can be accessed at:
<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/Spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola/qa.htm>. - Mod.CP]
.............................mpp/cp/ejp/dk
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