BURMA AI UPDATE - MARCH 23

UNCLAS RANGOON 000399

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 - MARCH 23

REF: RANGOON 372


1. (U) SUMMARY. FAO Bangkok reported a possible new AI
outbreak among poultry in Shan State, but local contacts have
not yet been able to confirm. Foreign donors have yet to
respond to the GOB's request for additional assistance,
although Australian animal testing equipment en route before
the AI outbreak is in transit. A major commercial chicken
breeder in Burma told us that chicken infection and mortality
rates in Burma are lower than in most AI outbreaks, and may
provide clues on how the virus entered the country. END
SUMMARY.


2. (U) Local contacts had no information about a reported new
AI outbreak among poultry in Shan State. FAO Bangkok
reported that the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MLF)
dispatched an investigation team to Shan State this week.
MLF informed FAO Rangoon they had not sent a team to
investigate because they understood the outbreak was not AI.
FAO and WHO could not get a clear answer on how they
"understood."


3. (U) FAO Representative Tang Zhengping provided Charge an
update on assistance promised. FAO Rome had provided $45,000
to purchase PPEs and disinfectant. U.S. donated assistance
of 200 PPEs, 500 liters of disinfectant and 50 sprayers had
been distributed already to Livestock and Fishery officials
in Mandalay. The ADB will provide $1 million to FAO and WHO
in Burma for emergency uses. The Chinese have "tentatively
agreed" to provide "some materials," which Tang could not
expand upon.


4. (U) An Australian Embassy official told us that some
animal laboratory testing equipment is now in transit to
Burma. This equipment is not in response to the recent AI
outbreak, but was already "in the pipeline," when it occurred.


5. (SBU) Our FSN agriculture specialist spoke to a contact at
Charoen Pokphand (CP),a leading Thai commercial chicken
company with several poultry farms near Rangoon. The
contact, U Soe Lwin, is also a member of Burma's Veterinary
Council. He noted that only 10-20 percent of chickens tested
in outbreak zones in Burma were AI positive, compared to
results closer to 100 percent positive in cases in
neighboring countries. He also noted that mortality rates of
chickens in Burma are lower than regional rates. The source
claimed that most chickens that tested positive for AI in
Burma were day-old chicks that usually originate in Yunnan,
China. He suspects that the infected chicks were smuggled as
eggs into Burma from China after suspected outbreaks in
Yunnan. The infected chicks are reportedly of the Backok
breed primarily found in China.


6. (U) WHO Burma will hold an AI update meeting on March 28
to brief diplomatic missions, UN agencies, and NGOs on
current conditions. Briefers will include WHO, FAO, the
Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, and the Ministry of
Health.
VILLAROSA