VZCZCXRO8649
PP RUEHDT RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0010/01 0040917
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 040917Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1943
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 2104
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 1421
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0018
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0022
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0126
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0027
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0018
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0034
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//USDP/ISA/AP//
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHINGTON DC//J2/J3/J5//
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC//DHO-3//
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI//J00/J2/J3/J5//
RHEFAFM/DIRAFMIC FT DETRICK MD//MA-1A//

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000010 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/EP, INR, OES/STC, OES/IHA, MED 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR ANE AND GH 
STATE PASS TO HHS/OGHA (WSTIEGER, EELVANDER AND ABHAT) 
USDA PASS TO APHIS 
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR OSD/ISA/AP (LSTERN) 
BANGKOK FOR RMO, CDC, USAID (JMACARTHUR AND MBRADY) 
ROME FOR FAO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU AMED AMGT CASC EAGR PINR SOCI VM
SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA: POULTRY OUTBREAKS CONTINUE, SUSPECTED HUMAN 
CASES TEST NEGATIVE 
 
REF: 06 HCMC 1497 B) 06 HANOI 2803 AND PREVIOUS 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000010  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Over the past 3 weeks, highly pathogenic 
H5N1 avian influenza (AI) has been detected in poultry in 
12 districts in four of the southern most provinces of 
Vietnam?s Mekong Delta.  Over 9,000 birds have died from AI 
and over 24,000 have been culled since the disease first 
reappeared on December 11, 2006.  Animal Health authorities 
continue to warn of further outbreaks, particularly in 
provinces where there is illegal breeding and smuggling of 
poultry.  The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of 
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to provide 
additional resources to Mekong Delta provinces to combat 
this recent surge in poultry outbreaks.  Within these 
areas, thirty-four people, including four experiencing flu- 
like symptoms, have tested negative for AI.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) In various national news media, MARD's Department of 
Animal Health reported that AI had been detected in poultry 
in 27 communes in 11 districts in the southern provinces of 
Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang.  Animal health authorities 
in Hau Giang province, which neighbors Bac Lieu to the 
north, first confirmed AI in poultry in Xa Phien and Minh 
Dieu Communes on December 29.  Nguyen Hien Trung, head of 
the Hau Giang Department of Animal Health, confirmed to 
local media that a dead bird had tested positive for AI in 
a third location, the province's Vi Thuy District.  Four 
hundred fifty illegally hatched, unvaccinated ducklings 
have died in Hau Giang to date.  Animal Health authorities 
in Ca Mau reported to local media that no poultry deaths 
were reported on January 2, ending twenty consecutive days 
of losses.  Poultry deaths are thought to have begun in 
early December. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Authorities are worried about high risk of 
outbreaks in provinces where positive samples were found 
during post-vaccination surveillance. Vietnam Economic 
Times reported on January 3 that Animal health authorities 
in Quang Nam province in Central Vietnam had detected AI in 
twenty-two ducks tested in November and December 2006. 
MARD Deputy Minister Bui Ba Bong added that unless strict 
measures were taken, Quang Nam and possibly Danang would 
likely be the site of the country's next outbreak. 
Authorities consider that there is a high risk in the north 
from continued illegal trade with China. MARD Director of 
Animal Health Dr. Bui Quang Anh, speaking during a meeting 
of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Control in 
Hanoi on January 2, warned that the disease is likely to 
occur in other provinces across the country, particularly 
in northern Vietnamese provinces with high incidence of 
cross border poultry smuggling.  The Deputy Minister warned 
that the northern Vietnamese provinces of Bac Giang, Hai 
Phong, and Thai Binh and the central Vietnamese provinces 
of Quang Nam and Quang Tri were most at risk for AI 
outbreaks in poultry. 
 
¶4. (U) Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung instructed the seven 
provinces south of the Hau Giang River to take strong 
measures to halt the spread of AI in poultry.  Speaking in 
Hanoi on December 31, the Prime Minister ordered 
authorities in all Mekong Delta provinces to isolate and 
destroy infected poultry quickly; increase surveillance of 
breeding farms; and raise public awareness to the dangers 
of the disease.  The Prime Minister was particularly 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000010  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
critical of provincial leaders for not ensuring complete 
poultry vaccinations in their provinces and indicated 
leaders would be held accountable.  Nguyen Tan Dung also 
pledged additional resources to combat AI in the seven 
provinces, instructing MARD to send additional vaccine 
dosages, disinfectant, and protective equipment. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Dr. Phan Van Tu, Deputy Chief of Microbiology and 
Immunology at HCMC's Pasteur Institute, confirmed to 
Consulate General that four individuals suspected of being 
infected with AI have tested negative for the disease.  A 
mother and her three children were admitted to a hospital 
after reporting respiratory problems days after eating a 
chicken that had died on their farm in Ca Mau province. 
The Pasteur Institute confirmed that all tested negative 
for H5N1 by throat swabs negative to influenza A/H5 and by 
diagnostic tests using real-time RTPCR.  We do not yet know 
if patients were tested for influenza A/H1, A/H3 or type B. 
The patients had mild illness and all are recovering.  The 
four patients had initials serum drawn and convalescent 
titers are planned.  Pasteur Institute teams sent to Ca Mau 
and Bac Lieu had previously tested twenty nine individuals 
who were in close contact with diseased poultry.  All cases 
tested negative.  Dr. Tu also confirmed to EconOff that a 
Cambodian man recently deceased in southern Vietnam's Kien 
Giang province had posthumously tested negative for the 
presence of H5N1 in blood. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to Hanoi-based WHO officials, MOH 
reported that human testing was done at the HCMC Pasteur 
Institute by RT-RTPCR but had not been  confirmed by an 
international reference laboratory.  WHO encouraged MOH to 
send samples to one of the WHO Collaborating Centers for 
Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza and 
proposed a joint MOH/WHO/FAO investigation.  HHS/CDC Hanoi 
has offered laboratory and field assistance to WHO. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Health Attache was told by WHO that FAO staff in 
Hanoi had received reliable reports of AI outbreaks in 
poultry in Can Tho, allegedly a fourth outbreak province. 
The GVN has yet to confirm outbreaks in Can Tho and FAO 
requested that USG officials not publicly comment on the 
situation there until the GVN can confirm and make a public 
announcement. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: Based on press and contact information, 
outbreaks in the Mekong Delta appear to be spreading due, 
in part, to improper carcass disposal and the trade in 
illegally hatched and unvaccinated poultry.  The GVN 
recognizes the severity of the problem and is allocating 
additional resources to combat the outbreak in all at-risk 
Mekong Delta provinces.  End Comment. 
WINNICK