VZCZCXRO1408
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDF RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB
RUEHPOD RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHRL #0626 1421854
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221854Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4193
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0337
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 8011
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0743
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1462

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