VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0952 2331632
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211632Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4241
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000952 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/IHB - P. MURPHY AND D. WILUSZ 
DEPT PLEASE PASS TO CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO SOCI PREL AMED ELAB CASC KIPR AR
SUBJECT:  ARGENTINA: H1N1 INFLUENZA BEGINNING TO WANE 
 
REF: BUENOS AIRES 0908 AND PREVIOUS 
 
¶1.  As of August 20, Argentina had confirmed 441 deaths due to H1N1 
influenza.  Official estimates indicated that more than 800,000 
people had contracted the virus to date.  According to Dr. Horacio 
Lopez, Head of Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine and 
Medical Advisor to the City of Buenos Aires, health officials in 
Buenos Aires were reporting a steady decline in H1N1 patients in the 
city's hospitals.  Lopez said that health officials were closely 
watching the pandemic's evolution since the return of schoolchildren 
to classes some two weeks ago, but told us he doubted there would be 
what he referred to as a "second wave."  He added that the coming 
warmer weather would most certainly result in less flu cases. 
Still, Lopez expected that some H1N1 cases would continue to occur 
during the coming spring season. 
 
¶2.  Dr. Francisco Averhoff, a CDC physician and epidemiologist 
detailed to assist Argentina in its response, confirmed that the 
number of cases in Greater Buenos Aires had declined significantly. 
He noted, however, that new cases were still rising in the northern 
provinces.  Averhoff agreed that the early August re-opening of 
schools raised the possibility of a spike in new cases, but noted 
that it was still too early to determine if this was taking place, 
given the lag in contracting and reporting the disease.  He noted 
that the CDC was working closely with the Ministry of Health (MoH) 
in several studies, among them a Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses 
(SARI) surveillance program, and a study of the economic impact and 
effectiveness of the initial school closings in Argentina.  He 
mentioned that the CDC had not observed any mutations in the H1N1 
virus so far, and that H1N1 was now the dominant flu strain in 
Argentina. 
 
¶3.  On August 18-21, Argentina hosted the first "World Fair of 
Health and Municipalities" in Buenos Aires, with support from the 
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health 
Organization (WHO).  The primary objective of the fair was to 
promote public health policies at the local level.  At the opening 
ceremony on August 18, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de 
Kirchner (CFK) publicly called again for laboratories to "suspend 
their economic rights to protect the health of the world."  She 
renewed the offer from "Argentina and other countries of the region, 
like Brazil and Uruguay, to collaborate with the manufacturing 
capacity of their pharmaceutical industry to produce the vaccines 
under license."  (Note:  Our contacts tell us that Argentina does 
not have the very specialized capability to produce vaccines and 
would not be able to do so within three years, at the very least, if 
the government really followed through on CFK's proclamation.  End 
Note.)  Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that it 
will procure 8 million doses of vaccine (for a population of 40 
million) through the World Health Organization, after direct 
negotiations with international laboratories reportedly failed. 
 
KELLY