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