BURMA AI UPDATE: MARCH 28, 2007

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000315 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 AI UPDATE: MARCH 28, 2007 REF: A. RANGOON 304 ¶B. RANGOON 287 ¶C. RANGOON 284 RANGOON 00000315 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) Summary: On March 23, Burma's Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (LBVD) reported that the birds found dead at a quail farm in Hmaw Bi Township in Rangoon Division tested positive for Influenza type A. The farm owner requested the destruction of the birds before confirmation of AI, and officials culled all remaining quail, as well as ducks and chickens at neighboring farms. Administrative, police and industry association personnel helped authorities enforce restrictions on the movement of poultry-related products from affected areas. The GOB has reported no confirmed human cases. On March 23, officials from the animal and human health sectors presented an update on the current AI situation to almost 100 members of the international community. End summary. Official Actions -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On March 22, LBVD responded to reports of quail deaths at a farm in Hmaw Bi Township in Rangoon Division. The farm is located in the same Township as the March 17 and 18 outbreak. The LBVD did not wait for lab results, and culled the remaining 3,000 quail, as well as 125 chickens and 54 ducks at neighboring farms, as a disease prevention measure. The Myanmar Livestock Federation sent volunteers to help the culling and disinfecting teams. Since the disease was not confirmed, authorities did not plan to report it to OIE. ¶3. (U) Authorities strictly enforced the ban on the movement of poultry-related products from the controlled areas around the affected farms. Police, together with township Peace and Development Council authorities and Livestock Federation personnel, reinforced LBVD inspectors at the cargo inspection gates leaving Rangoon. The Yangon City Development Council (YCDC) distributed a leaflet, "Imposing Discipline at the Chicken Market," to poultry traders and provided sterilization tanks to poultry markets to use for waste that was previously tossed into nearby streams. Briefing for International Community -------------- ¶4. (U) At a session hosted by WHO on March 23, Ministry of Health, LBVD, and WHO officials described the current AI situation to over 100 representatives from diplomatic missions, INGOs, and UN agencies. LBVD Advisor Dr. Than Hla gave a briefing on recent poultry outbreaks and suggested the probable source was wild birds. On March 27, the government newspaper reported that LBVD had tested most of the 324 wild birds found dead during the previous month, and all but six had died of causes other than AI. The article stated that LBVD suspected that, of the tested birds, six crows may have been infected with AI. The article continued that LBVD found no trace of AI in 75 dead chickens and 22 dead geese sent from poultry farms in the affected areas. ¶5. (U) The Ministry of Health (MOH) presenter, Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein, Deputy Director of the Central Epidemiology Unit, said the MoH previously had 955 people under surveillance in the outbreak areas, but has cleared 479. It will maintain surveillance on the remaining 476 people, mainly responders and residents. Two suspected cases, a 50-year old male responder and another patient who died on March 22 in the district hospital in Meiktila, near Mandalay, have proven RANGOON 00000315 002.2 OF 002 negative for AI. Rapid Response Teams went to Meiktila and discovered no outbreak in poultry. ¶6. (U) Dr. Soe Lwin Nyein said that the MoH required daily reporting from all hospitals, whether or not they have any suspected cases. He then gave out contact numbers for the MoH's Rangoon Division Response Department to report suspected AI cases, and a number in Nay Pyi Taw for the central response office. Kanokporn Coninx, WHO AI Coordinator, described the international response to Burma's AI outbreak and expressed gratitude for USAID's assistance to WHO and FAO. Two expatriate doctors then gave a general briefing about AI in humans. VILLAROSA