The presence of the respective pathogen at the workplace is a prerequisite for the justified suspicion of the existence of an occupational disease, as is a temporal connection to the exposure. The disease must develop within a period that is within the incubation period.
In the case of inapparent diseases, the development of the relevant stage and the possible subsequent state of the infectious disease should be considered; the route of transmission and infectivity of the pathogen should also be taken into account. Complications and permanent damage can occur in particular with brucellosis, enterohaemorrhagic E. coli infections, TBE, leptospirosis, Lyme borreliosis, Q fever, tuberculosis and enteric yersiniosis.
If diseases are not transmitted from animals to humans but from humans to humans, BK No. 3101 may apply.
With regard to damage to a foetus as a result of an occupational infection of the pregnant woman with a zoonosis (e.g. chlamydiosis, leptospirosis, listeriosis, Lyme borreliosis, toxoplasmosis) during the respective pregnancy, compensation for the child must be considered in accordance with § 12 SGB VII.
The zoonotic status of encephalomyelitis caused by Bornaviruses, which has been observed in horses in Germany, has not yet been reliably clarified. The identity of the viruses isolated from horses and humans has not yet been proven.
To date, no human spongiform encephalopathies caused by the transmission of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) pathogens have been identified as a disease with the characteristics of an occupational disease. This also applies to related TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalopathy) pathogens such as the scrapie agent, which only affects sheep and goats. Suspected cases should nevertheless be reported.
Case law (Federal Social Court judgment of 30.03.2023, B 2 U 2/21 R) According to established case law, in order to establish a listed BK (insured event), it is necessary that the performance of a fundamentally insured activity (factual connection) has led to the effects of stress, pollutants or similar on the body (causality of effects) and that these effects have caused an illness (causality giving rise to liability). The insured activity, the performance, the effects and the illness must be present in the sense of full proof, i.e. with a probability bordering on certainty. For the causal connections to be assessed according to the theory of the essential condition, however, sufficient probability is sufficient, but not mere possibility. The degree of proof of sufficient probability is fulfilled if there is more evidence for than against the causal link and serious doubts are excluded. The fact that the work-related illness may have consequences that trigger the claim (liability-filling causality) is not a prerequisite for a listed occupational disease, but it is a prerequisite for a benefit (claim)