BURMA: FIRST HUMAN AI CASE CONFIRMED

UNCLAS RANGOON 001180 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, G/AIAG; PACOM FOR FPA; USDA FOR FAS/PECAD, FAS/CNMP, FAS/AAD, APHIS; BANGKOK FOR USAID:JMACARTHUR, APHIS:NCARDENAS, REO:JWALLER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR EAID AMED PGOV PREL CASC TBIO KFLU BM SUBJECT: BURMA: FIRST HUMAN AI CASE CONFIRMED REF: A. RANGOON 1133 ¶B. RANGOON 1151 ¶1. (U) On December 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Burmese Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed Burma's first case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case involved a seven-year-old girl infected with the virus during a poultry outbreak in Kyaing Tone (Kangtung) Township, Eastern Shan State in late November (reftels). The patient first presented symptoms on November 21 and was hospitalized on November 27. Her symptoms were mild and she responded well to treatment. She was discharged on December 12, and has recovered fully. The MOH has not detected any other cases of human avian influenza infection since the outbreak. ¶2. (SBU) Samples taken from the patient first tested positive for H5N1 using a Polymerase Chain Reaction test in a national laboratory in Burma on November 26. However, based on the patient's extremely mild symptoms and Burmese inexperience in testing human samples, the WHO believed the initial test may have resulted in a false positive. Additionally, the patient had tested positive for malaria leading her clinical physicians to believe that her symptoms may have resulted from that disease rather than avian influenza. Consequently, the WHO and GOB sent additional samples to accredited laboratories in Bangkok and Tokyo for confirmation and withheld an announcement pending the results. On December 13, a Thai national laboratory in Bangkok and a WHO laboratory in Tokyo confirmed the initial H5N1 results, which were then announced on December 14. ¶3. (SBU) A WHO official described the MOH investigation and response as "swift, effective and very transparent." According to the WHO, the MOH informed them of the case immediately and allowed the WHO to work alongside MOH officials throughout the process. WHO officials also commended the GOB's proactive efforts to detect human cases and pointed out that this case was first detected by a door-to-door survey of the affected area, which the MOH began after the initial outbreak. VILLAROSA