All eight cases occurred in southern Germany, mostly among people living in rural or semi-rural areas and in regular contact with animals, they reported in The Lancet, a medical journal. In the eight newly identified cases, patients fell into a coma and died 16 to 57 days after hospital admission. "Our findings indicate that Borna disease virus infection has to be considered a severe and potentially lethal human disease transmitted from a wildlife reservoir," said co-author Barbara Schmidt from Regensburg University Hospital. "It is still relatively rare in absolute numbers, but it might be behind a larger proportion of unexplained severe-to-fatal encephalitis cases," said co-author Martin Beer from the Friedrich-Löffler Institute. The new findings bring the total number of confirmed Borna cases in southern Germany -- all fatal -- to 14.

Source: The Local January 08, 2020 12:33 UTC