VZCZCXRO9391
PP RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHKV #0949 1541318
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031318Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7896
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//CTR//
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//ATSD-NCB//
RHMFIUU/DTRA CT WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//J5-T//

UNCLAS KYIV 000949 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/UMB, CA/OCS/ACS/EUR -- S. SCHMIERER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PREL AMED CASC PGOV XH UP
 
SUBJECT: UKRAINIAN LAB CONFIRMS FIRST "SWINE FLU" CASE 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Not for Internet or Distribution 
Outside the USG. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Ukraine's Deputy Health Minister Oleksander 
Bilovol confirmed yesterday that a local lab had positively 
diagnosed A/H1N1 with "99 percent certainty" in a 24 year-old 
Ukrainian man, who had arrived in Kyiv on May 29 from New York via 
Paris.  His is the first known case of "swine flu" in Ukraine. 
Official confirmation from a WHO-designated lab is not expected 
before mid-June.  The efficient response demonstrated by Ukrainian 
authorities suggests that the country's emergency preparedness has 
thus far been adequate.  Health authorities have already identified 
and are monitoring roughly seventy people who had been in contact 
with the afflicted man, including ten U.S. citizens seated nearby on 
the Air France flight.  The Embassy's consular section has reached 
out to the U.S. citizens, urging that they contact the special H1N1 
unit established at the Ministry of Health were they to experience 
any flu-like symptoms.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Deputy Minister of Health Bilovol told journalists on June 
2 that local lab tests confirmed with "99 percent certainty" the 
country's first known case of A/H1N1.  Bilovol stated that the 
patient was being closely monitored at a Kyiv hospital.  The 
Ministry of Health's special H1N1 unit has led efforts to contact 
roughly 70 other individuals in Ukraine who had been in proximity to 
the 24 year-old Ukrainian citizen.  Head of the H1N1 unit Irina 
Kolesnikova told us that lab specimens had been sent to WHO virology 
experts in London for conclusive testing.  Ministry of Health 
officials expect a definitive diagnosis before mid-June. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Of those who had been seated within two rows of the the 
H1N1 patient on the May 29 Air France Paris-Kyiv flight, ten are 
American citizens.  The Ministry of Health provided Post with a list 
of the U.S. passport holders.  In concurrence with CA/OCS, the 
Embassy's consular section has spoken with or passed messages to 
seven of the ten Americans.  The three not yet reachable were 
members of the same family. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) None of the Americans contacted by Post has reported 
flu-like symptoms.  At the request of the Ukrainian Ministry of 
Health, Post has urged potentially affected American citizens to 
call a special hotline established by the Ministry's H1N1 unit if 
they began to experience flu-like symptoms.  According to Ministry 
of Health officials contacted by the consular section, a follow up 
health examination would only be necessary if symptoms occurred 
before the end of the incubation period on June 4. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The Ukrainian H1N1 patient reportedly is a Detroit 
resident.  According to local and international media reports, he 
experienced no abnormal symptoms during his flights, only 
complaining of head and muscle pain at the Kyiv airport.  The 
patient's friend took him to a local hospital, from which he was 
transferred by ambulance to a special medical facility prepared for 
A/H1N1 cases.  After a physical examination, the man was admitted 
and is undergoing treatment.  The patient's friend and the taxi 
driver have also been examined and will undergo regular monitoring 
in the coming days. 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment. It appears that the official GOU response to the 
A/H1N1 case has been adequate.  The Ministry of Health, in concert 
with Kyiv-based WHO detailee Katia Bulavinova, has been forthcoming 
with us regarding the case.  Their efforts to contact potentially 
afflicted individuals, establish an H1N1 unit and hotline, and 
communicate with the public have seemingly mitigated panic within 
the local population. 
 
PETTIT