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Viewing cable 06RANGOON459, BURMA AI UPDATE - APRIL 4

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06RANGOON459 2006-04-04 09:10 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Rangoon
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 000459 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA; UDSA FOR FAS/PECAD, 
FAS/CNMP, FAS/AAD, APHIS; BANGKOK FOR USAID (JOHN 
MACARTHUR), APHIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR EAID AMED PGOV PREL CASC TBIO KFLU BM
SUBJECT: BURMA AI UPDATE - APRIL 4 
 
REF: A. RANGOON 437 
 
     B. RANGOON 399 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY.  On March 31, WHO/FAO Burma briefed UN 
agencies and diplomatic missions on the country's AI 
situation.  A Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MLF) 
director gave a chronology of the AI outbreaks in central 
Burma, which began on March 3, and the GOB's efforts to 
control the disease.  He updated the number of farms, 
chickens, and quails affected in the six townships where 
outbreaks occurred.  The Ministry of Health official reported 
that health authorities quarantined eight persons from 
outbreak sites who displayed flu-like symptoms, but all had 
tested negative and been released by March 31.  WHO provided 
increased cooperation and coordination among key stakeholders 
and noted that the GOB invited both WHO and FAO to 
participate in their National AI Subcommittee, the first time 
international organizations had joined a government 
taskforce.  The FAO representative reported on the second 
FAO/WHO joint visit to the outbreak areas on March 29-20. 
She observed that outbreaks continue to occur on new farms in 
Sagaing and Mandalay divisions, but AI outbreaks have been 
contained so far in these two areas.  If the outbreaks 
continue for two to three more weeks, the GOB may initiate 
vaccination of poultry in a buffer zone around the outbreak 
sites.  WHO and FAO appealed to donors to help with 
critically needed equipment and supplies to prevent the 
further spread of AI in Burma.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) WHO and FAO held a joint briefing on AI, joined by 
officials of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of 
Livestock and Fisheries (MLF), for UN agency heads and 
diplomatic missions in Rangoon on March 31.  The MOH asked 
WHO not to invite international NGOs or any Burmese not 
working for the GOB.  When asked why, the WHO representative 
said the GOB feared that members of the NLD might try to 
attend the briefing uninvited.  This ban prevented Embassy 
FSN agricultural specialist from attending the meetings, even 
though she had been permitted to visit the outbreak sites 
around Mandalay. 
 
HOW IT BEGAN 
 
3. (U) Dr. Than Hla, Director of the MLF's Division of 
Disease Control and Veterinary Services, gave a detailed 
chronology of AI outbreaks in six townships of Sagaing and 
Mandalay divisions and steps the authorities had taken to 
contain the outbreaks, starting March 3.  As of March 30, 
outbreaks had occurred at 114 chicken farms and 60 quail 
farms in Mandalay Division and 89 farms in Sagaing Division. 
Dr. Than Hla speculated that the disease may have come to 
Burma via wild birds visiting Mahananda Lake near Shwebo, 
Sagaing Division, or through the smuggling of commercial 
chicks from China. 
 
4. (SBU) Dr. Than Hla thanked JICA (Japan International 
Cooperation Agency) and FAO for PPEs and other essential 
supplies.  Note: USAID Bangkok purchased the emergency 
supplies for FAO including 200 PPEs, 500 liters of 
disinfectant concentrate, 50 backpack sprayers, and some 
biosafe specimen containers.  Although there were USG 
stockpiles of PPEs in the region, they could not be accessed 
in a timely manner.  Due to the emergency nature of the 
response and given the FAO Regional AI Coordinator's and 
USAID's Infectious Diseases Advisor Dr. John MacArthur's 
imminent departure for Burma, where they planned to supervise 
distribution of the supplies, FAO purchased the supplies from 
distributors in Thailand and used USAID's account code.  End 
Note. 
 
5. (U) Although the GOB planned to destroy all chickens in a 
radius of 3 km from affected farms, Than Hla acknowledged 
that in practice authorities have been destroying chickens up 
to a radius of only 1 km to date.  The authorities said lack 
of protective gear and equipment was the major constraint. 
The GOB has no plan to offer compensation to farmers whose 
poultry flocks they have killed off, but Than Hla said MLF 
will restock affected farms with day-old chicks once they 
eradicate the disease and may offer preferential loans to 
affected farmers. 
 
6. (U) The March 31 issue of "The New Light of Myanmar" 
published an report from MLF with details of new outbreaks in 
central Burma during the last week of March.  The article 
also mentioned recent die-offs of ducks in Bago Division (50 
miles north of Rangoon) and 20 pigeons that died at a 
monastery in Kyauktan Township (15 miles from downtown 
Rangoon) and confirmed that the dead birds tested negative 
for AI.  The newspaper continues to publish daily updates and 
instructions for the public on how to prevent and control AI. 
 
NO HUMAN CASES SO FAR 
 
7. (U) Dr. Tin Nyunt, Deputy Director General of the 
Department of Health, reported that the MOH has designated 
two hospitals as referral centers for human AI cases -- one 
in Rangoon and one in Mandalay.  Following the outbreak in 
central Burma, authorities admitted eight persons with 
flu-like symptoms (six from Mandalay -- including two 
veterinarians working with the field teams -- and two from 
Sagaing) to Mandalay General Hospital.  All tested negative 
for AI and by March 31 the last person returned home from 
hospital. 
 
8. (U) Dr. Tin Nyunt noted that the MOH now has a total 
Tamiflu stock of 1,000 doses.  In response to the outbreak, 
the MOH distributed 75 PPEs, 15 courses of Tamiflu, and 30 
rapid test kits each to the two affected divisions for their 
use in monitoring suspect human cases. 
 
WHO'S RESPONSE 
 
9. (U) Kanokporn Coninx, WHO Burma's AI coordinator, reported 
that WHO/FAO sent a second assessment team to Mandalay March 
29-30 and worked with ministerial counterparts to prepare 
guidelines on outbreak response and containment.  WHO has 
provided technical support, helped coordinate stakeholders, 
and worked jointly with FAO to mobilize resources.  WHO 
reported that the GOB recently invited both WHO and FAO to 
participate in the National AI Subcommittee, a first in 
Burma.  In response to the current outbreak, WHO/SEARO 
released $20,000 in emergency funds, 300 courses of Tamiflu, 
200 PPEs, 2,000 liters of disinfectant, and 500 rapid test 
kits.  An epidemiology consultant will come to Burma soon to 
fill a critical need in WHO's team. 
 
CONTAINING THE OUTBREAK 
 
10. (U) Dr. Wantanee Kalpravidh, FAO Regional AI Coordinator, 
returned from Mandalay hours before the briefing.  She 
reported that AI outbreaks have spread to adjacent townships 
in the 2-3 weeks since the initial discovery, but that they 
remained confined to Sagaing and Mandalay divisions so far. 
Although authorities issued strict controls on the movement 
of people and poultry in the affected areas, they have 
limited capacity to enforce the rules, which remains a major 
constraint to containing the outbreaks. 
 
11. (U) Dr. Wantanee listed key strategies for containing the 
outbreak, including: more effective culling on affected 
farms, improved quarantine and movement control, improved 
decontamination, increased surveillance, better biosecurity, 
greater public awareness, and better protection for field 
teams.  She also said that if AI outbreaks continue to occur 
on new farms for 2-3 weeks more, it would be necessary to 
implement "emergency ring vaccination" in conjunction with 
the above strategies.  She stressed that it was important to 
utilize only quality vaccines or the outbreaks could become 
worse.  The MLF is surveying a viable buffer zone around the 
affected townships if conditions indicate the use of 
vaccination.  Dr. Wantanee remained cautiously optimistic 
that authorities can stop the outbreaks through careful 
surveillance and containment activities. 
 
AN APPEAL FOR MORE ASSISTANCE 
 
12. (U) Dr. Wantanee listed FAO's most urgent needs as 
electric generators to support the labs, containment 
equipment, a biohazard handling system, and consumable 
supplies for laboratories.  She estimated that $300,000 would 
be sufficient to procure equipment and supplies needed for 
the next three months.  She has prepared a detailed list for 
any donors who wish to help. 
 
13. (SBU) WHO has forwarded a $7 million joint WHO/FAO 
proposal for implementing AI activities in Burma to 
international donors, including USAID at a meeting in Bangkok 
on March 8.  WHO ventured that even $4 million would be a 
significant help in the crisis.  An Australian representative 
told us that the Australian Government is seriously 
considering support for some of the hardware needs listed in 
the proposal. 
VILLAROSA