About mice: The first human transmission of the Tula virus was reported in Germany

• The first case of the Tula virus has been confirmed in Germany.
• The tula virus mainly occurs in field mice and belongs to the so-called hantaviruses.
• Hantavirus infection usually causes influenza-like illness.

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For the first time, the tula virus, which occurs mainly in field mice, is a direct cause of disease in humans Germany is found. Molecular biological evidence for the pathogen belonging to hantaviruses was jointly presented by researchers from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) and Charité in Berlin, FLI reported on Tuesday.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKILittle indirect evidence of such infection.

According to FLI, a young man in the hospital showed symptoms of acute renal failure. Further investigations confirmed the suspected hantavirus disease. Initially it was not possible to determine exactly which virus caused the disease.

Then, molecular analysis provided the first molecular evidence of tula virus infection in a patient in Germany. The work has been published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Rats and mice are potential carriers of the Tula virus

“This finding now brings the field mouse and associated tula virus further into the epicenter of hantavirus epidemiology and will require better writing of hantavirus diseases in the future,” said Rainer Ulrich, head of the National Reference Laboratory for Hantaviruses in Animals. FLI.

Therefore joint follow-up studies with the Julius Kühn Institute should determine the prevalence of the tula virus in field mice and other mice more precisely. “It is precisely because of the mass reproduction that occurs in field mice that the occurrence of human infection with the tola virus must be closely monitored,” Ulrich emphasized.

Hantavirus infection causes flu-like symptoms

Hantaviruses are transmitted to rodents such as rats and mice Transferred to humans. Viruses are usually inhaled, for example through contaminated dust. Viruses are not transmitted from person to person in Germany. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the number of cases fluctuates.

Hantavirus infection usually causes influenza-like illnesses – high temperature, headache and body aches; Also nausea or vomiting. The kidneys can also be damaged, leading to acute kidney failure. Only symptoms can be treated. There are no specific drugs or vaccines.

In Germany, Hantavirus diseases in humans have so far been mainly traced back to the Pomala virus in bank rats, according to the information. this is virus It occurs only in the western, northwest, and southern parts of Germany. The Tula virus, which is closely related to the Pomala virus, is spread throughout Germany. (Dpa / cad)