VZCZCXRO9001
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDF RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB
RUEHPOD RUEHSL RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHRL #0769 1761548
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 251548Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4451
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 9959
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0362
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 8074
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC 0123
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0774
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1493

UNCLAS BERLIN 000769 
 
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: 333 CONFIRMED CASES 
 
REF:  A) Berlin 762, B) Berlin 754 and previous. 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The net number of H1N1 cases in Germany 
rose by one infection to 333 on June 25. (Authorities 
identified six new cases, but retracted five previously- 
confirmed ones, adjusting the total increase to one.) State 
health ministers reassured the public after meeting on June 24 
in Thuringia to discuss the outbreak. A Japanese school in 
North Rhine-Westphalia that was closed earlier after the virus 
spread among students has reopened.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  On June 25, the National Reference Center for 
Influenza at RKI announced in its press briefing six new 
laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 for Germany, but subtracted 
five that were previously confirmed.  This net one-case 
increases the total number of confirmed cases in Germany to 
333 (Refs A, B and previous).  Five previously confirmed H1N1 
infections in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia 
were found not to be the new flu.  New cases were distributed 
among the federal states as follows: Bavaria (3), Hesse (1), 
and Saxony-Anhalt (2), North Rhine-Westphalia (-4), and 
Rhineland Palatinate (-1). 
 
¶3. (SBU)  North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) remains the state 
showing the highest number of infections among all German 
states with 156 confirmed cases, followed by Bavaria (50 
cases) and Baden-Wuerttemberg (44 cases).  The Federal State 
of Saarland remains the only state without confirmed virus 
cases.  The number of confirmed infections resulting from 
domestic transmission of the virus remains at 178. 
 
 
Japanese school reopens 
----------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Media reports indicate that the Japanese school in 
Duesseldorf (NRW) that was closed two weeks ago due to 
confirmed 
H1N1 cases among its students has reopened.  About 41 children 
of a total of 68 children confirmed to be infected with the 
virus reportedly remain under quarantine at home as a 
preventive measure. 
 
 
Health Ministers urge no panic after meeting on H1N1 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU)  At a conference of the state health ministers on 
H1N1 on June 24 in Erfurt (Thuringia), the ministers jointly 
stated that there is no need for panic in Germany. 
Countermeasures such as the vaccination of the entire German 
population will not take place, given the fairly small number 
of infections and mild course of the virus in Germany. 
However, preventive measures will consequently be followed, 
said German Health Minister Ulla Schmidt.  Federal states have 
already concluded contracts to obtain vaccine but they will 
only be implemented if the WHO issues such a recommendation at 
the beginning of July. Schmidt said that the EU health 
ministers would meet the same day to discuss further joint 
strategies. 
 
KOENIG