TFFLU01: TAIWAN CONFIRMS FIRST H1N1 CASE

UNCLAS TAIPEI 000609 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE PASS OES/IHA, OES/IHB FOR AMB LOFTIS, HHS FOR MARK ABDOO, CDC ATLANTA FOR CCID, BANGKOK FOR CDC BAGGETT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KFLU AEMR CASC KFLO TBIO PREL HHS TW SUBJECT: TFFLU01: TAIWAN CONFIRMS FIRST H1N1 CASE REF: TAIPEI 588 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) On May 20, Taiwan health authorities confirmed the first occurrence of H1N1 in Taiwan. The infected passenger arrived on May 18 at 9:30 pm on Cathay Pacific flight CX 468 from Hong Kong, having started his trip in New York. The 52-year-old Australian national had a fever when he arrived at Taipei's Taoyuan International airport. He was stopped at the temperature monitoring station at the airport, and is being treated and quarantined at a hospital in Taoyuan. According to reports, the Australian is a long-time resident of Taitung, on Taiwan's east coast, and works as a shipboard doctor on cruise ships. His latest cruise was on the "Norwegian Dawn", which cruised from New York to Bermuda. ¶2. (SBU) Speculation as to how long Taiwan would be able to hold out against the H1N1 virus when neighboring countries were all finding cases of the H1N1 virus, ended with the diagnosis of this first H1N1 case. Whether this will be just an isolated case remains to be seen, as health authorities scramble to contain this individual occurrence and wait for results from testing passengers who were seated in the Australian's proximity on flight CX 468. ¶3. (SBU) TCDC has managed to track down all 57 passengers sitting in the three rows in front and behind the H1N1 patient on flight CX 468. It has taken medical samples from each of the 57, and urged them to stay home and impose self-quarantine procedures while being monitored by medical officials. TCDC is still trying to determine if any passengers who sat near the H1N1 patient on the May 17 non-stop flight from New York to Hong Kong (CX 831) booked separate flights to Taiwan. ¶4. (SBU) TCDC told us it has sent relevant information to the IHR focal points in Geneva and the U.S. YOUNG