ABSTRACT
From January to April 2010, 396 hantavirus infections were notified in Germany, a considerable increase compared with previous years (mean: 83 for January-April 2004-2009) including the record-setting year, 2007 (n=232 January-April). Most patients are residents of known Puumala virus endemic areas in southern Germany. The recent increase in notified hantavirus infections is probably due to an increased population density of the main animal reservoir, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus).
Subject(s)
Disease Notification , Hantavirus Infections/epidemiology , Orthohantavirus/isolation & purification , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Animals , Child , Child, Preschool , Disease Vectors , Germany/epidemiology , Hantavirus Infections/etiology , Humans , Middle Aged , Young AdultABSTRACT
Peripheral fat is a major source of endogenous estrogens in menopausal women. To investigate whether obesity affects use of replacement estrogens in postmenopausal women, we examined the relation between body mass index and use of replacement estrogens in data from Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, the German Cardiovascular Prevention Study, and the Cancer and Steroid Hormone (CASH) study. In each data set, there was a major decline in replacement estrogen use with higher body mass index. All data sets showed hysterectomy to be a strong predictor of replacement estrogen use. Smoking, past use of oral contraceptives and other estrogens, and ages at menarche and menopause did not appear to influence the body mass-estrogen relation. The strong and consistent association between body mass index and use of replacement estrogens in data collected at different times and in different places by different methodologies strongly suggests a common underlying biologic mechanism.
