This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 BANGKOK 002856 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/AIAG/JLANGE AND RFENDRICK 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/STC/MGOLDBERG AND PBATES 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/PCI/ASTEWART 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA/DSINGER AND NCOMELLA 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID/ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL 
DEPARTMENT PASS CDC FOR COGH SDOWELL AND NCID/IB AMOEN 
DEPARTMENT PASS HHS/OGHA/WSTEIGER AND MSTLOUIS 
USDA FOR OSEC AND APHIS 
USDA FOR FAS/DLP/HWETZEL AND FAS/ICD/LAIDIG 
USDA/FAS FOR FAA/YOUNG, MOLSTAD, ICD/PETTRIE, ROSENBLUM 
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR OSD/ISA/AP FOR LEW STERN 
PARIS FOR FAS/AG MINISTER COUNSELOR/OIE 
ROME FOR FAO 
KATHMANDU FOR REO KOCH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU SOCI PGOV EAID EAGR KPAO XE
SUBJECT: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE IN BANGKOK - THAILAND'S CONTAINMENT 
OF AVIAN INFLUENZA 
 
¶1.  Summary: Thailand experienced 22 cases of human H5N1 avian 
influenza in 2004 and 2005, 14 of which were fatal.  It has also 
reported more than 1000 separate outbreaks of avian influenza in 
poultry, most of them occurring in 2004.  Since November 2005, 
however, Thailand has not detected a single human or animal H5N1 
infection.  During his visit to Bangkok on May 2, Special 
Representative on Avian and Pandemic Influenza Lange heard Thai 
officials credit high-level political commitment and a highly 
integrated village network of health and surveillance volunteer 
workers for the success of their efforts at containing avian 
influenza.  The Thai officials were quick to point out, however, 
that they remain "vulnerable" and that their goal cannot be to 
eradicate the virus, but to contain it.  End summary. 
 
High-Level Political Commitment 
------------------------------- 
¶2.  In separate meetings with Thai Ministry of Agriculture and 
Cooperatives Department of Livestock Development (DLD) Deputy 
Director General Dr. Chaweewan Leowijuk and with Ministry of Public 
Health (MOPH) Vice-Minister Dr. Wachara Phanchet, Ambassador Lange 
inquired what they attribute to the absence of reported avian 
influenza outbreaks in Thailand over the past several months.  The 
Vice-Minister and Deputy Director General both placed "high-level 
political commitment" at the top of the list.  After the first 
outbreaks occurred in early 2004, they said, Prime Minister Thaksin 
put the fight against avian influenza at the top of the political 
agenda.  He created a horizontally integrated National Committee on 
Avian Influenza Response with representatives from 14 ministries 
chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister that continues to meet once a 
week to plan, prepare, and promulgate strategies and courses of 
action to contain avian influenza in the country.  The Committee has 
compiled a "Strategic Plan for Avian Influenza Control," as well as 
a "Strategic Plan for Pandemic Preparedness," they said. 
 
From National Committee to Village Health Volunteers 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶3.  The MOPH Vice-Minister and LDL Deputy Director General also 
emphasized that "vertical integration" from the national center to 
the provinces, district, and community level is also essential to 
successfully carry out the Committee's strategies and activities on 
the ground in the countryside.  More than 1000 MOPH Surveillance and 
Rapid Response Teams have been trained in the past year and operate 
at the district level.  They make daily reports of their 
surveillance findings.  Separate DLD teams would be the first on the 
scene to implement culling and other control measures if an outbreak 
is detected. 
 
¶4.  In addition, Vice-Minister Wachara said that between 800,000 and 
900,000 "village health volunteers" perform daily visits to local 
households throughout Thailand.  They not only look for sick or dead 
birds and severe respiratory illness in humans, but distribute news 
and information on avian influenza and other health issues.  MOPH 
Vice-Minister Wachara said that the system of village health workers 
in Thailand has developed over a 30-year history, long before the 
threat of avian influenza emerged.  They have been involved over the 
years in campaigns, he said, to correct cleft palates, to battle 
dengue fever, and to fight HIV/AIDS, and will continue to be useful 
even if the H5N1 virus one day disappears.  He said the key to the 
success of Thailand's village health volunteer program is that 
volunteers are recruited from their own locality and not sent in 
from the outside.  He said it might be difficult for other countries 
to duplicate such a system, and certainly not within a short 
timeframe.  He added that the village health volunteers gain 
prestige and receive recognition (March 20 is Village Health Worker 
Day in Thailand), but receive no remuneration for their services. 
 
 
Culling, Sampling, and Testing 
------------------------------ 
¶5.  In response to Ambassador Lange's questions about poultry 
culling as an avian influenza control measure and about sampling of 
birds as possible carriers of the virus, Deputy Director General 
Chaweewan said that during the first round of outbreaks in poultry 
in early 2004, which she described as "very devastating," the DLD 
culled all birds within a 5-kilometer radius of an affected farm or 
household.  During the next two rounds of poultry outbreaks 
(September-October 2004 and September-November 2005) the DLD cull 
only those birds in an infected flock.  In addition, the DLD 
disinfects affected areas, collects samples for testing from birds 
within a one-kilometer radius and restricts the movement of birds 
within a 10-kilometer radius of an affected farm or household.  She 
said that current policy is to compensate farmers 75 percent of the 
market price per culled bird - sufficient, she said, to secure 
farmers' cooperation in reporting outbreaks. 
 
¶6.  Deputy Director Chaweewan said the DLD performs "X-ray 
surveillance operations" in February and July, in which surveillance 
teams perform close inspections of poultry-raising farms and 
households.  During this past February the DLD collected 60,000 
samples for testing in addition to more than 200 samples collected 
in wet markets during Chinese New Year - all of them, she said, 
tested negative for H5N1.  In response to a question, Dr. Chaweewan 
said the samples collected are swabs for PCR testing (which detects 
viral nucleic acid, indicating the actual presence of the virus). 
The DLD has not yet implemented sampling of blood specimens for 
serological antibody-testing (testing for previous exposure to the 
virus). 
 
¶7.  (Note: Antibody-testing would provide a picture of the general 
prevalence of the H5N1 virus in various species of poultry and other 
birds.  However, it is much more expensive to perform and requires a 
biosafety level 3 laboratory to conduct the micro-neutralization 
test.  In addition, when the DLD performs antigen-testing, tests are 
performed on pooled material from batches of swabs.  Although 
separate testing on each individual sample would provide better 
scientific data, it would be time- and cost-prohibitive.  Post 
wishes to point out that DLD is not performing scientific research, 
however, but instead is screening samples as part of public health 
surveillance.  End note.) 
 
Improved Infrastructure 
----------------------- 
¶8.  Vice-Minister Wachara told Ambassador Lange that Thailand has 
significantly improved its own human health infrastructure and 
capacity since the emergence of avian influenza.  At the beginning 
of 2004, Thailand had only one laboratory capable of testing samples 
for H5N1 virus; now the Thai National Institute of Health has 14 
regional medical science centers, all of which are being trained in 
H5 diagnosis.  The Ministry has worked to better prepare hospitals 
in infection control. Even the smallest district hospital now has at 
least one isolation room, he asserted.  He also said that risk 
communication, public awareness and education about avian influenza 
have been a priority. 
 
¶9.  The MOPH Vice-Minister acknowledged shortfalls in pandemic 
preparedness.  Thailand has stockpiled 1.5 million capsules of 
Tamiflu, enough for 150,000 treatment courses.  Vice-Minister 
Wachara said this would be enough only to contain a single 
human-to-human outbreak and only if it was detected early enough. 
He said Thailand would like to begin local production of Tamiflu, 
but may not have the capacity or resources to do so.  He added that 
MOPH procured API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) from India and 
is testing it now to see if they can buy in bulk and then package in 
Thailand.  Likewise, Thailand wants to develop a human H5N1 vaccine, 
but realizes that it would not be able to do so on its own.  He said 
he is proposing to other countries in the region the idea of 
regional collaboration on producing Tamiflu for a regional 
stockpile, as well as regional collaboration on human vaccine 
development. 
 
Regional Activities 
------------------- 
¶10.  Both Vice-Minister Wachara and Deputy Director General 
Chaweewan described activities they are undertaking to combat avian 
influenza from a regional perspective.  Thailand's Northeast 
Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Centre and National Institute of 
Animal Health have accepted and performed tests on poultry samples 
from Laos and Burma.  Deputy Director Chaweewan said the DLD sent 
veterinary laboratory experts to Vietnam in 2004 and on several 
occasions to Cambodia carry out training and help establish lab 
procedures for avian influenza testing.  The DLD also recently 
donated laboratory reagents and supplies and sent an animal 
virologist to Burma for a 2-week TDY to conduct laboratory 
training. 
 
¶11.  Vice-Minister Wachara listed several training activities the 
MOPH has conducted, many of them in conjunction with the U.S. CDC 
and WHO, at which invitees from other countries in the region 
participated, including training in H5N1-related epidemiology at the 
Field Epidemiology Training Center, laboratory diagnostics, 
surveillance and control measures, and risk communication.  He 
expressed special appreciation of the Thailand MOPH-U.S. CDC 
Collaboration (TUC), and particularly for TUC's International 
Emerging Infectious Disease Program, in developing Thailand's 
capacity to contain avian influenza and become a regional center of 
H5N1 expertise.  He noted that Thailand has a self-interest in 
building the health capacity of its neighbors.  "As long as avian 
influenza is present in countries around us," he said, "we feel 
vulnerable." 
 
¶12.  Comment:  Thailand has made great progress in developing 
procedures and strategies to deal with the threat of avian 
influenza.  Not all of Thailand's methods, however, can be adapted 
to other countries.  Nor is there any guarantee, for all of 
Thailand's preparedness, that it can avoid future H5N1 poultry 
outbreaks or human infections.  But there are lessons that can be 
learned from Thailand's experience.  At the end of his meeting with 
Ambassador Lange, Deputy Director General Chaweewan summed it up 
best by declaring, "We cannot control avian influenza, but we can 
contain it." 
BOYCE