VZCZCXRO7684
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHVN #0757/01 2230748
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110748Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0222
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2019
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 0293
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0911
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0087
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1084
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0152
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0462
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7723
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000757 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR G, EAP/MLA 
DEPT PASS TO USTER FOR D. BISBEE AND TO USAID FOR D. CARROLL 
BANGKOK FOR USAID, MACARTHUR, FOR RMO, REO, CDC, AND FAS 
ROME FOR FAO 
HHS FOR ELVANDER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO ECON SOCI PREL KFLU LA
SUBJECT: LAOS WEEKLY AVIAN INFLUENZA REPORT 
 
VIENTIANE 00000757  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. Summary: The GoL says it has succeeded in controlling AI - 
the kind of statement that suggests that they do not fully 
appreciate the seriousness of the situation. Public reporting 
on AI has improved somewhat, due to GoL nervousness about 
recent outbreaks, but the fact is the response was too little 
too late. The Thai and Lao authorities are making some 
efforts to cooperate, but much more public education is 
needed. Also, an important point regarding compensation for 
farmers should enter the AI canon - only culled birds should 
be counted. End summary. 
 
Much ado about little 
--------------------- 
¶2. The GoL is now claiming to have bird flu under control, 
and that the culling operations during July were completely 
successful. The sanitary cordon around the affected villages 
remains in place and the humans there are being monitored for 
flu-like symptoms. Post is not so optimistic. No more 
outbreaks have been reported, but surveillance remains patchy 
at best, and the small outbreak that began in June, and was 
only "discovered" in July, stretched the GoL's response 
capabilities to the limit. While visiting AI experts 
compliment the Lao on their quick response in order to 
encourage them, in fact the response was tardy and 
inadequate. Furthermore, we have seen that the GoL remains 
perfectly capable of concealing negative information. Despite 
many warnings, even in Vientiane Capitol chickens and ducks 
are routinely mixed together in live markets. This need not 
surprise anyone, for most of the public information about AI 
has been in the English Language press, read mostly by 
expats. Lao language reporting on it has been much more 
limited, though that situation has improved somewhat over the 
past two weeks. 
 
The GoL's attitude 
------------------ 
¶3. We surmise that the improvement on the Lao side was due to 
the GoL having a scare put into them by the prospect of 
larger-scale outbreaks. Also, Thai media coverage, which 
blankets Laos, has been plentiful, so the chicken was out of 
the bag when Thai TV began to suggest that the Lao were 
sending them diseased poultry. Despite the mutual Thai-Lao 
tendency to blame everything on each other, animal health 
officials from both countries are now meeting regularly and 
are at last talking about a coordinated effort to prevent and 
contain outbreaks along the border. With a long and largely 
unguarded river border, though, it is difficult to see how 
any control on the movements of poultry will be effective 
unless the average person becomes well enough informed and 
well enough intended to cooperate. Much more public 
information is needed, along with incentives to report 
outbreaks. The GoL is being responsive to USG offers of 
training, especially on the human health side, as evidenced 
by their participation in an HSS-sponsored APEC pandemic 
preparedness exercise in Singapore, August 16-17. 
 
No whackee no payee 
------------------- 
¶4. The question of incentives leads to a point that bears 
repeating here: An honestly run and efficient compensation 
scheme is crucial to successful surveillance, as poultry 
farmers fear and will resist culling by concealing outbreaks 
in the hope of keeping some of their stock alive. The Lao 
Animal Health Authorities have already complained that 
villagers and poultry farmers are concealing their birds from 
them, and otherwise thwarting investigations. In response to 
requests for comments on slowly evolving UNDP/FAO/GoL draft 
plans to compensate poultry breeders affected by AI, Post has 
remarked that is very important not to compensate for birds 
that die of AI on their own - only culled birds should be 
compensated for, either with cash or with live chicks (a 
possible gain for American poultry breeders if American 
chicks can be used). To do otherwise would encourage cheating 
and create a situation in which the numbers of birds involved 
would be impossible to determine accurately. Furthermore, 
 
VIENTIANE 00000757  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
scarce human resources would get tied up in confirmation 
efforts involving needless contact with diseased or dead 
animals, and the incentive to report outbreaks would be 
greatly diluted. A part of the draft plan that provides for 
compensation by kilogram is, for the same reasons, 
nonsensical. However, if farmers know they can only get 
compensated by reporting sick birds that are going to die 
anyway, the incentive to report will be strong. 
ROLSTON