TRAVEL-RELATED VECTOR-BORNE VIRUS-INFECTIONS IN GERMANY

Laboratory diagnosis of imported, vector-borne virus diseases during a 22-month-period in Munich, Germany, is summarized. In 13/317 Germans returning from the Mediterranean with suspected sandfly fever, acute s andfly fever, serotype Toscana was confirmed serologically: 84.6% of t he infections were acquired in Italy. Of 249 German tourists with febr ile disease returning from the tropics, acute infection with dengue vi rus was diagnosed serologically in 26 (10.4%): most infections were ac quired in Thailand (57.7%). In a seroepidemiological study of 670 Germ an aid workers who had spent two years in the tropics, 49 (7.3%) were positive for antibodies to dengue, 9 (1.3%) to chikungunya, and 1 (0.1 %) to Sindbis virus. Of 17 Middle Eastern patients with suspected vira l haemorrhagic fever, genomic Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus R NA was amplified in 4 (23.5%) by semi-nested reverse transcriptase pol ymerase chain reaction, and confirmed by molecular characterization of nucleic acid. With the increase in travel to and from endemic areas, imported vector-borne virus infections are increasingly important in G ermany.