Infektionsausbruch bei deutschen und finnischen Soldaten während des 2. Weltkriegs im Östlichen Lappland – Erstbeschreibung der Hantavirus-Erkrankung im deutschen Sprachraum

Abstract

Eight decades ago, a report on "a swamp fever-like disease in German troups in Lapland" was published in this journal. The disease outbreak had occurred in 1942 and affected more than 1000 soldiers at the Finish front. The published, precise analysis of the clinical picture was obviously the first description of hantavirus disease in the German language area. Nowadays, hantavirus disease - in Central and Northern Europe also known as Nephropathia epidemica - is one of the most frequent notifiable virus diseases in Germany and Finland.