VZCZCXRO9478
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGZ #0585/01 2870906
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140906Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0980
INFO RUEHGZ/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE 0281
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0768
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0216
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0217
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0226
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC 0026
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0265
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0261
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000585 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, OES/IHA, MED, CA/OCS/ACS/EAP 
STATE PASS TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR ANE AND GH 
HHS PASS TO OGHA, NIH/FIC, CDC/COGH AND FLU DIV TMOUNTS AND NCOX 
BANGKOK FOR RMO, CDC, USAID 
BEIJING FOR HHS HEALTH ATTACHE AND RMO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU CASC SOCI PREL HK CH
SUBJECT: H1N1 PREPAREDNESS DEEMED SUFFICIENT BY GUANGDONG HEALTH 
OFFICIALS 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Health officials in Guangdong Province, 
birthplace of SARS and the H5N1 virus in Asia, are confident that 
they are well prepared to deal with the threat of influenza 
outbreaks this flu season.  Officials expressed confidence that 
existing H1N1 prevention and control measures --including expanded 
flu surveillance activities, national plans to produce and 
distribute H1N1 vaccines, and strict quarantine measures-- would 
succeed in preventing a serious outbreak.  They also believe an H5N1 
outbreak is highly unlikely.  End Summary. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
H1N1 PREVENTION AND CONTROL MEASURES IN PLACE 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Since September 1, at least 2,026 new cases of confirmed 
H1N1 have been reported, bringing the total number of confirmed 
cases in Guangdong to 2,851.  Of this total, only nine remain 
hospitalized and 37 are currently under home quarantine according to 
data available on the Guangdong CDC website.  He Jianfeng, Director 
of the Guangdong's CDC's Epidemic Disease Prevention Institute, told 
us that no fatalities in Guangdong province had been linked to H1N1 
infection.  He also noted that hospitalization of H1N1 patients did 
not necessarily indicate the patient was in serious condition. 
According to He, it is common practice to hospitalize the first 
patient in a city or locality with confirmed H1N1 for observation. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Health officials acknowledged in recent meetings that 
isolated outbreaks at schools were likely to continue through the 
current flu season.  At the same time, officials expressed a high 
degree of confidence that existing measures would be effective in 
preventing any serious outbreak.  According to Feng Shaomin, Head of 
the Foreign Affairs Office at the Guangdong Health Department, these 
measures include the establishment of a joint prevention and control 
mechanism composed of 33 government agencies under the direction of 
the Health Department, continued reliance on strict border control 
measures including quarantine, and the expansion of the flu 
surveillance network to incorporate all municipalities, Hong Kong 
and Macao. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Both He and Feng pointed to the strengthening of flu 
surveillance capacity as a critical element to the province's flu 
prevention efforts.  Since June 2009, according to Feng, the 
Influenza-like Illness (ILI) surveillance system has expanded from 
14 cities to include all 21 cities in the province.  The total 
number of ILI surveillance stations --located in schools, community 
clinics, and municipal and county-level hospitals --has increased 
from 52 to 65, according to He, who also noted that the data 
collected from this network is reflected in weekly and monthly 
reports available on the CDC website.  After noting the success 
these measures have achieved in controlling the spread of H1N1, Feng 
added, "The U.S. does not need to worry about us." 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
VACCINES ON THEIR WAY, ANTIVIRALS IN STOCKPILE 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Central Government announced in early September that an 
H1N1 vaccine developed by a domestic biotechnology company, Sinovac, 
had passed clinical trials.  News reports indicate that inoculations 
with the vaccine have already commenced in Beijing.  Lin Jinyan, 
Deputy Director General of the Guangdong CDC, told us at a September 
17 meeting that the Ministry of Health (MOH) had already identified 
Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou as "key areas" under its 
inoculation plan.  According to a contact familiar with the MOH 
plan, Guangzhou should soon receive a first batch of five million 
doses.  Once the vaccines have been received, Lin stated that the 
initial batch will be given free of charge to priority groups. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The determination of priority groups will be based on WHO 
and MOH recommendations, according to Lin, but will definitely 
include public health and other service workers, e.g. police, border 
control, and bus drivers.  When asked if pregnant women would be 
considered a priority group, Lin stated that the MOH was still 
studying the safety issues surrounding inoculation of pregnant 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000585  002 OF 002 
 
 
women.  He also noted that Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu had 
instructed the MOH to monitor the progress of studies on this issue 
in other countries and had also asked that caution be exercised when 
recommending the vaccine to this group. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Guangdong has a total of 200,000 doses of Tamiflu in its 
stockpile, the majority of which are kept in a central warehouse, 
according to Wang Jing of the Guangdong Health Department's 
Emergency Response Office.  Wang noted that some doses of Tamiflu 
are kept at the 109 designated hospitals for treatment of H1N1 
cases, and that other hospitals could apply to obtain Tamiflu 
through an emergency review and approval procedure.  According to 
Feng of the Health Department's Foreign Affairs Office, the Central 
Government has entered into an agreement with Tamiflu suppliers that 
would in the event of a national emergency permit local generic 
production of the vaccine "without having intellectual property 
issues get in the way."  In addition to Tamiflu, Wang noted that 
several local manufacturers of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) 
were currently producing antiviral TCMs that could be used to treat 
H1N1. 
 
---------------------------------- 
NO CHANGE IN QUARANTINE PROCEDURES 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The quarantine procedure for Guangdong province has remain 
unchanged since the first case was discovered in May, according to 
Zhang Wen, Division Chief of the Guangdong Inspection and Quarantine 
Bureau.  Zhang stated that according to the procedure, which is 
identical for foreigners and nationals, all travelers are required 
to fill in health declaration cards and pass through a body 
temperature screener at the point of entry.  Any traveler with an 
elevated temperature and severe flu-like symptoms will be sent to a 
hospital immediately for H1N1 screenings. Travelers with elevated 
temperatures who display mild flu-like symptoms will be sent to a 
designated hotel for quarantine until lab tests are completed.  If 
the traveler tests positive for H1N1, he/she will be sent to a 
designated hospital, at which point a doctor will decide if the 
patient should remain hospitalized or be placed into home 
quarantine. (Note: In the Consulate's experience, quarantine 
measures initially put into place in May were much stricter than 
current procedures, affecting hundreds, if not thousands of visitors 
who displayed no symptoms but had arrived on the same flight or 
train as a suspected H1N1 case. End Note.) 
 
------------------------------ 
LITTLE CHANCE OF H5N1 OUTBREAK 
------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) According to World Health Organization (WHO) surveillance 
data, the H5N1 virus was last discovered in Guangdong's poultry in 
June 2008; human infection with H5N1 has not been reported in 
Guangdong since February 2008.  Regarding the possibility of H5N1 
resurgence, Feng from the Guangdong Health Department predicted an 
extremely low likelihood that a human case of H5N1 would be 
discovered in the province in the next few months.  Feng's 
assessment was affirmed by officials at the Guangdong CDC and the 
Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital. 
 
¶10. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Beijing. 
 
GOLDBECK