BURMA AI OUTBREAK - MARCH 15 UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000355 SIPDIS SENSITIVE 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 OUTBREAK - MARCH 15 UPDATE REF: A. RANGOON 345 ¶B. SECSTATE 41406 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. In response to a suspected AI outbreak on March 8 in Pyi-gyi-dagun Township, Mandalay authorities have banned all sales of chickens, ducks, and eggs. A Bangkok-based USAID expert on AI and an Embassy Rangoon FSN agricultural specialist will join a FAO and WHO assessment team traveling to Mandalay March 17-18. WHO in New Delhi has sent 500 courses of Tamiflu to WHO Rangoon. The GOB continues to share information about the outbreak with FAO, WHO, and OIE while keeping its own people in the dark. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) An Embassy source in Mandalay reported on March 15 that local health and municipal authorities, responding to a suspected AI outbreak on March 8 (ref A),banned all trading of chickens, ducks, and their eggs in the city and threatened to punish all violators. The source also claimed that three to five persons from Pyi-gyi-dagun Township with flu-like symptoms remain in Mandalay General Hospital for observation. ¶3. (SBU) Foreign media have quoted Dr. Than Tun, Director of Animal Health at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MLF),who asked for international assistance to Burma to help contain the suspected AI outbreak in Mandalay Division. However, no government or domestic Burmese media have reported the outbreak to date. WHO Rangoon thinks the GOB may be waiting for official confirmation by the reference laboratory before informing the public, but the news vacuum has already sparked exaggerated public rumors. ¶4. (SBU) On March 14, Embassy FSN agriculture specialist met FAO Burma Representative Mr. Tang Zhengping, who reported: -- The suspected HPAI outbreak is among poultry in Kywe-sekan quarter of Pyi-gyi-dagun Township, Mandalay Division. -- FAO sent specimens to their Regional Office in Bangkok and expect to know the results on March 16 at the earliest. -- Dr. Wantanee, an FAO veterinarian in Bangkok, will arrive in Rangoon on Thursday for meetings, after which she will proceed to Mandalay to conduct an assessment. -- FAO feels Burmese authorities are ill equipped to handle an AI outbreak. FAO plans to provide approximately $40,000 worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) to MLF officials. -- FAO Rangoon believes that the infection may have entered Burma through hatchery eggs smuggled from Yunnan, China, through the border town of Muse in Shan State. -- The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (LBVD) prepared a public awareness bulletin for release to local media, but the GOB Press Scrutiny board did not approve it in order not to "alarm the people." -- The FAO also seeks PPEs to allow LBVD officials to conduct large-scale inspections of poultry wholesale markets in Rangoon and other centers. -- LBVD officials have also approached Japan International Cooperation Assistance (JICA) for urgent assistance in combating AI. ¶5. (U) Dr. John MacArthur, Infectious Disease Advisor from USAID Bangkok, will travel to Rangoon on the evening of March ¶15. After consultations with GOB, WHO, and FAO officials in Rangoon, he plans to travel to Mandalay on March 17 with an Embassy Rangoon FSN agriculture specialist to join Dr. Wantanee of FAO Bangkok and a WHO Rangoon representative to assess needs. They will return to Rangoon on March 19. ¶6. (SBU) The GOB has asked WHO for 50 courses of Tamiflu as prophylaxis for the field investigation team. WHO's Southeast Asia Regional Office in New Delhi agreed to send 500 courses. WHO Rangoon expects to receive the drugs on May ¶16. WHO will hold the remaining 450 courses for treatment of possible human cases in country. VILLAROSA