Investigation and response to a large outbreak of leptospirosis in field workers in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Between June and August 2014, 45 cases of leptospirosis were notified among workers on two strawberry farms in North-West Germany. We describe the characteristics of the outbreak and the actions taken to prevent further cases. The activities of the local, federal and national public health and veterinary authorities included collection of case data, laboratory testing of human specimens and of small mammals trapped on the fields, investigation of weather data, as well as information provided to farmers, field workers, physicians and to the authorities in Poland and Romania.

Outbreak of hepatitis B in a nursing home associated with capillary blood sampling.

In 2001, two residents of a nursing home in Lower Saxony, Germany, were diagnosed with acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. A systematic contact investigation of 188 residents yielded 19 confirmed or probable cases of acute or recent HBV infection and three persistent asymptomatic HBsAg carriers. Sequence analysis revealed that one carrier had high viraemia (109 genomes/ml), HBV genotype A2, and the same S gene and/or X gene sequence as 16 acutely infected persons.