VZCZCXRO7365
PP RUEHAST RUEHCN RUEHDH RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHSL RUEHTM RUEHTRO RUEHVC
DE RUEHIN #0756/01 1750207
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240207Z JUN 09
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1811
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 4645
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RHMFIUU/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC 2743

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000756 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS OES/IHA, OES/IHB FOR AMB LOFTIS, HHS FOR MARK 
ABDOO, CDC ATLANTA FOR CCID, BANGKOK FOR CDC BAGGETT, 
USDA/FAS FOR OFSO/WAINIO OSTA/HAMILTON, OCRA/BEILLARD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AEMR AMGT ASEC CASC KFLU KFLO TBIO TW CH
SUBJECT: TAIWAN CONFIRMS 61 CASES BUT DOWNGRADES 
SERIOUSNESS OF H1N1, WILL PRODUCE VACCINE 
 
REF: TAIPEI 660 AND PREVIOUS 
 
 ¶1.  (U) SUMMARY.  On June 19, the Taiwan Centers for Disease 
Control (TCDC) confirmed Taiwan's 61st case of H1N1 and also 
downgraded the virus from a Category I Notifiable Infectious 
Disease to Category IV, meaning that medical doctors and 
hospitals are only required to report "severe" H1N1 cases to 
the TCDC, and H1N1 patients are no longer quarantined. 
Incoming travelers to Taiwan exhibiting flu-like symptoms 
will be allowed to enter the island without medical 
examination or quarantine.  Taiwan still plans to stockpile 
at least 10 million doses of H1N1 vaccine through a 
combination of international procurement and domestic 
production, and a Taiwan biotechnology company announced 
plans to mass-produce a vaccine by the end of October. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
TAIWAN CONFIRMS 61 CASES OF H1N1 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Taiwan confirmed its 61st case of H1N1 on June 19. 
Two instances of local transmission are reported, most 
recently in case 56 (a 25 year-old female, daughter of case 
53).  Nearly all of the 59 non-locally transmitted cases 
entered Taiwan from Thailand and the US, in roughly equal 
measure. Two of the 61 reported cases are Amcits, and 20 of 
the 61 individuals who contracted H1N1 were still receiving 
hospital treatment as of June 19.  Following TCDC action to 
downgrade H1N1 through reclassification (see para 3), Taiwan 
will only publicly report severe cases of H1N1.  AIT will 
continue to monitor H1N1 developments and report primarily 
through the on-line S/ES-O/CMS H1N1 Flu Matrix. 
 
 
H1N1 DOWNGRADED BY TCDC BUT MONITORING CONTINUES 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On June 19, following a TCDC determination that 
"the overall severity of the H1N1 pandemic appears to be 
moderate and similar to local seasonal flu," TCDC 
reclassified H1N1 from a Category I Notifiable Infectious 
Disease to Category IV.  These categories are defined under 
Taiwan's Communicable Diseases Prevention Law.  Category I 
diseases include, for example, SARS, smallpox, and avian 
influenza.  Class IV disease other than H1N1 include chicken 
pox and Lyme disease.  TCDC Division 1 Deputy Director Shih 
Chin-shui told ESTH officer that Taiwan is the first regional 
entity to downgrade H1N1 in this fashion, and he claims 
Taiwan took this action following the lead of US CDC.  Shih 
noted that Taiwan still receives H1N1 case notifications from 
Singapore and Japan, including names of individuals seated 
close to the H1N1 infected airline passengers, but in recent 
weeks the US CDC has told Taiwan it no longer wants this 
information.  This development, along with epidemiological 
data showing that H1N1 is a flu of moderate severity, 
prompted Taiwan to reclassify the virus.  In conjunction with 
downgrading H1N1, Taiwan also canceled all H1N1-related 
travel advisories and will no longer report new H1N1 cases to 
the World Health Organization. 
 
¶4.  (U) As a Category IV infectious disease, doctors and 
hospitals in Taiwan are not required to report H1N1 cases to 
the TCDC unless they are "severe" (as is the case with all 
Category IV infectious diseases), and H1N1 patients are no 
longer quarantined.  The reclassification to Category IV has 
implications for visitors to Taiwan.  For incoming airline 
passengers, for instance, while temperature monitoring 
stations will continue to function as they have since the 
2003 SARS outbreak, passengers with flu-like symptoms will 
simply be notified at the monitoring station that they 
exhibit symptoms that may indicate H1N1, they will be asked 
to self-monitor and seek medical attention if symptoms become 
severe,  they will be asked to wear a face mask and then 
allowed to leave the airport.  No swabs or samples will be 
taken. 
 
¶5.  (U) The TCDC notes that it will reinforce monitoring of 
H1N1 by integrating Taiwan's National Health Insurance 
database into the existing H1N1 surveillance system.  As a 
 
TAIPEI 00000756  002 OF 002 
 
 
result, hospital records indicating a patient with H1N1 
symptoms was seen by a doctor will be available to TCDC 
authorities through the linkage of the National Health 
Insurance database to the H1N1 surveillance system. 
 
 
TAIWAN PLANS TO PURCHASE, PRODUCE VACCINE 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The Taiwan Department of Health (DOH) still plans 
to procure 10 million does of the H1N1 flu vaccine and 5 
million doses of seasonal flu vaccine by the end of this 
year.  The DOH originally hoped to procure 2.5 million doses 
of H1N1 vaccine through an international bid process that 
closes on June 28.  However, TCDC Deputy Director General 
Shih Wen-yi told ESTH officer that Taiwan's international 
procurement efforts are unlikely to obtain more than 1 
million doses of H1N1 vaccine due to shortages.  There are 
currently four bidders on the contract: Aventis, Baxter, 
GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) On June 18, President Ma Ying-jeou attended the 
inauguration of a plant owned by Taiwan's Adimmune 
Corporation (Chinese name: Guoguang Biological Technology 
Company), which expects to begin human clinical trials of an 
H1N1 vaccine by late-August and mass-production by 
late-October.  Adimmune is reportedly the 12th facility 
globally that can produce an H1N1 vaccine and has stated it 
will be able to manufacture 30 million doses per year when 
operating at capacity.  Taiwan health authorities have 
expressed concern that even if Adimmune can deliver on its 
production timeline and targets, public willingness to 
inoculate with an H1N1 vaccine will depend on the whether 
there exists widespread trust in the quality of the vaccine. 
 
 
REQUESTS US FDA CERTIFICATION ASSISTANCE 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  To this end, Taiwan DOH Minister Yeh Chin-chuan 
has requested US FDA assistance with vaccine certification 
efforts related to H1N1, saying that if the Taiwan produced 
vaccine can reach international standards it will not only be 
used in Taiwan but can also be donated or sold to "friendly 
countries."  Dr. Kang Jaw-jou, Director of the Drug Research 
Center and Professor at the Institute of Toxicology at Taiwan 
National University, who is slated to serve as Taiwan's first 
FDA director, is currently in the US, where he plans to meet 
with the FDA's Center for Biologics, Evaluation and Research. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
YOUNG