US embassy cable - 05MADRID3074

UNCLAS MADRID 003074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR UNDERSECRETARY DOBRIANSKY, EUR/WE, AND 
OES/IHA; USDA FOR FAS AND APHIS; HHS FOR OGHA; GENEVA FOR 
WHO; ROME FOR FAO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO, ECON, PREL, SOCI, SP, KSTH, WHO 
SUBJECT: SPAIN:  ADDRESSING THE THREAT OF AVIAN INFLUENZA 
 
REF: SECSTATE 153802 
 
1.  ESTHOFF made reftel points August 23 to Health Ministry 
Deputy Director General Jose Perez Lazaro, requesting the 
contact details of the GOS Avian Influenza POC.  Perez Lazaro 
informed ESTHOFF August 30 that the GOS Health Ministry POC 
(for possible transmission to humans) would be Director 
General for Public Health Manuel Onorbe de Torre.  Phone: 
(34) (91) 596-2062.  Fax:  (34) (91) 596-4409.  EMail: 
dgsp@msc.es.  Perez Lazaro said the Agriculture Ministry 
would retain the lead for issues related to the transmission 
of Avian Influenza among animals.  The POC for these issues 
is Deputy Director General for Animal Health Arnaldo Cabello 
Navarro.  Phone:  (34) (91) 347-8295. 
 
2.  Perez Lazaro underscored that the Health and Agriculture 
Ministries were cooperating closely on Spain's borders to 
help prevent Avian Influenza from reaching Spain.  Both 
ministries have ordered intensified checks on the borders and 
the Agriculture Ministry has distributed "rapid test" kits to 
border regions.  The Health Ministry, for its part, has 
ordered two million antiviral treatments ("Tamiflu") to 
combat the possibility of an epidemic among the human 
population. 
 
3.  The Agriculture Ministry has had a "National Vigilance 
Against Avian Influenza Program" in place since 2003 that has 
detected no/no cases of Avian Influenza since its inception. 
The Ministry believes that a spread to Spain remains 
"improbable."  The Spanish authorities reportedly believe 
that avian migration patterns make northern Europe more 
vulnerable than the south.  Should that calculation change, 
Spain would not find it too difficult to take measures 
similar to Holland (keeping poultry indoors), as only four 
percent of Spanish birds are currently kept outside (compared 
to over 40 percent in Germany, according to the press). 
 
4.  COMMENT:  The GOS did not respond to our demarche until 
after the August 25 emergency EU meeting called to coordinate 
Europe's response to the threat.  Spain's relatively 
unalarmed response tracks with our understanding of the 
results of the EU session, which reportedly characterized the 
immediate risk of Avian Influenza spreading to the EU as 
"remote" or "low."  That said, Spain is not ignoring the 
threat and, like most of its EU partners, has stepped up both 
its border vigilance and its efforts to combat any possible 
human epidemic. 
AGUIRRE