VZCZCXRO1872
PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCI #0128/01 1091340
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181340Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1971
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME PRIORITY 0026
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0100
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2407

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000128 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PLS PASS HHS, APHIS AND CDC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KFLU EAGR TBIO SENV PGOV PREL IN BG
SUBJECT: CONTIGUOUS INFECTED AREAS IN BANGLADESH MAY UNDERMINE THE 
GOOD AI REPONSE IN TRIPURA; POSSIBLE NEW CASES REPORTED 
 
REF: KOLKATA 111 
 
KOLKATA 00000128  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Feedback from contacts and media reports suggest 
that Tripura responded well to the current H5N1 outbreak in the 
state.  Rapid Response Teams completed culling on schedule, put 
in place effective restrictions on poultry movement, and 
villagers cooperated with the culling teams.  Some new bird 
deaths were reported in two other Tripura districts.  The 
effectiveness of Tripura's response may be mitigated because 
teams could not sanitize large tracts of infected zones located 
in Bangladesh.  West Bengal and Tripura are the only Indian 
states so far where culling zones stride across the porous 
international border.  Given such a situation, an AI response 
plan may need a regional or international mechanism to be 
effective. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) On April 12, Rapid Response Teams (RRT) from Tripura's 
Animal Resources Development (ARD) department completed culling 
40,000 birds in Mohanpur (North Tripura District) and adjoining 
villages on India-Bangladesh border.  Tripura's ARD Secretary 
told Post that clean-up and sanitizing operations will be over 
by April 17.  So far, USD 42,000 has been paid as compensation. 
The state administration has imposed stringent movement 
restrictions on poultry products in the affected areas.  The ARD 
Secretary said his government has installed gated checkpoints 
 
SIPDIS 
every 500 meters within the contaminated zone that are manned by 
ARD and police department officers.  Officials are reporting any 
attempted movement of birds or poultry products to the ARD 
Secretary twice daily.  So far there have been no reports of 
 
SIPDIS 
illicit poultry transit. Tripura has not reported any human 
cases of infection. 
 
¶3. (U) Unlike in West Bengal where RRTs experienced resistance 
to culling, villagers in Tripura came forward to help.  "We went 
to the villages and convinced everyone about the dangers 
associated with H5N1 outbreaks.  Villagers were coming to us 
with their poultry," the ARD Secretary claimed.  Media reports 
and Post's contacts corroborated this cooperation.  (Comment: 
One likely reason for the high degree of cooperation with 
culling efforts is that Tripura's ruling CPM party has greater 
popular support than in West Bengal, and with a smaller populace 
it is easier to raise awareness of the risks of AI.  Also, 
because of the state's smaller size compared to West Bengal, the 
command and control structure for disaster response is more 
clearly defined.  End Comment.) 
 
¶4. (U) Tripura's government has pre-positioned 500 Personal 
Protective Equipment (PPE), medicine and chemical supplies in 
each of the state's four administrative district headquarters, 
although there are no official reports of H5N1 outbreaks from 
other districts.  Contacts reported some new poultry deaths from 
West and South Tripura districts.  About 200 birds died at 
Nehalnagar and Rajnagar villages of Belonia subdivision (South 
Tripura).  Bird deaths were also reported from another village 
named Mohanpur (West Tripura) and Chebri village of Khowai 
subdivision (West Tripura).  On April 16, the ARD Department 
sent samples from these villages to Bhopal's High Security 
Animal Diseases Laboratory (HSADL) and is awaiting the results. 
ARD officials have not publicly commented on these new bird 
deaths. 
 
¶5. (U) Officials responding to the H5N1 outbreak in Tripura (and 
in West Bengal) are still grappling with cross-border issues. In 
Tripura, large tracts of land within the 3-mile culling radius 
are in Bangladesh.  Bangladesh's Moulavibazar village - which is 
currently in the middle of an H5N1 outbreak, according to Post 
contacts - is less than 500 meters across the border from 
Tripura's Mohanpur.  West Bengal's Balurghat, Gitaldaha, and 
Malda towns, which experienced H5N1 outbreaks between January 
and March, faced a similar problem although it was not known 
whether nearby areas in Bangladesh were witnessing H5N1 
outbreaks simultaneously.  Although the GOI has urged Tripura to 
look into the possibility of district level joint operations 
with Bangladesh, Post contacts in Tripura and West Bengal say 
that no such cooperation has occurred yet. 
 
¶6. (U) COMMENT: West Bengal and Tripura have identified culling 
areas that cross across the porous international border with 
Bangladesh.  District administrators in India say they maintain 
informal liaisons with their counterparts in Bangladesh, but do 
not have a mandate to launch joint H5N1 containment operations. 
A regional or international mechanism for outbreak response and 
 
KOLKATA 00000128  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
prevention would have a positive impact on efforts to manage AI 
outbreaks in this region. 
JARDINE