US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT4673

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 004673 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/IHA 
HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER/BHAT 
CDC FOR BLOUNT/JANI/LEDUC/NCOX/ARTHUR 
GENEVA FOR WHO 
USDA PASS FSIS AND APHIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, AMED, KPAO, PREL, CASC, KSCA, SENV, TBIO, KU, WHO, FAO 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT AVIAN INFLUENZA UPDATE: GOK MEASURES FOR 
VIRUS DETECTION 
 
REF: KUWAIT 4516 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: On October 30, Emboffs and two U.S. 
military veterinarians met with the Deputy Director General 
for Animal Resources to discuss the GOK's efforts to combat 
the spread of the Avian Influenza (AI) virus.  The GOK has 
teams of inspectors that routinely inspect farms and bird 
markets, and additional teams collect to dead birds and test 
them for the presence of AI.  The Embassy team raised U.S. 
military concerns about the safety and availability of 
poultry products crossing into Iraq as food supplies for 
troops, and also discussed GOK concerns about vehicles and 
materiel returning to Kuwait from Iraq possibly carrying the 
virus.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.  (SBU) On October 30, Econcouns, Medoff, Econoff 
(notetaker), U.S. Customs Advisor, and two U.S. military 
veterinarians met with the Public Authority for Agricultural 
Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) Deputy Director for 
Animal Resources Dr. Mohammed Al-Muhanna to discuss his 
agency's efforts to guard against the spread of AI among live 
birds in Kuwait.  Al-Muhanna heads the Agriculture Committee 
on AI and is a member of the main committee (reftel) tasked 
with formulating a comprehensive response plan.  Al-Muhanna 
explained that the room in which the meeting was held was the 
PAAAFR's "control room" and is staffed 24 hours a day.  On 
October 25, the main committee established a hotline for 
callers encountering dead birds, and Al-Muhanna pointed out 
three telephones in the room that such calls are routed to. 
(NOTE: RSO at Post called the hotline on October 29 when 
several dead chickens were spotted at a homeowners chicken 
coop just outside the Embassy gate.  A PAAAFR team responded 
quickly and collected the birds to test for AI; the tests 
were negative.) 
 
3.  (SBU) Econcouns asked for, and Al-Muhanna provided, a 
copy of the PAAAFR's response plan, which constitutes one 
portion of the GOK's overall plan.  He mentioned that the 
plan included budget allocations for more equipment if AI 
appears in Kuwait, and potential compensation to owners if a 
cull is deemed necessary.  Al-Muhanna complained of the 
difficulties presented by the GOK jurisdictional structure, 
specifically that while the PAAAFR is responsible for live 
birds, once the birds are slaughtered, the Food Safety 
Committee (FSC) (under the Municipality of Kuwait) is 
responsible; Al-Muhanna's committee makes recommendations to 
the (FSC) but he worried that the FSC might be slow to adopt 
them. 
 
DETAILS OF THE RESPONSE PLAN 
---------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) The response plan provided by Al-Muhanna states 
that the PAAAFR has already disinfected all poultry farms and 
markets with virucidal agents, collected blood and fecal 
samples, and has informed all relevant GOK entities 
(including border quarantine stations, customs, and civil 
aviation authorities) of the seriousness of AI.  The plan 
also provides for inspection teams, the aforementioned 
hotline, and a virology lab dedicated to testing AI samples. 
It calls for a ban on poultry products from infected 
countries, restrictions on hunting, and mandatory reporting 
by poultry farmers of sick birds or sick laborers. 
 
5.  (SBU) In the event of an AI outbreak on a Kuwaiti farm, 
the plan calls for a quarantine (with a 2km radius) and 
immediate disinfecting of the infected farm, the farm 
laborers to be referred to the Infectious Disease Hospital, 
and culling of the birds. If an outbreak occurs at a 
slaughter house, all birds will be culled and the facility 
disinfected.  In the event of any outbreak in the country, 
the movement of laborers between farms will be prohibited, 
healthy birds will be given an AI vaccine (if available by 
then), the public zoo will be closed, and all bird markets 
shuttered.  In addition, the plan calls for a public 
awareness campaign. 
 
INSPECTION TEAMS 
---------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Al-Muhanna explained that the PAAAFR currently has 
10 inspection teams, each including a veterinary assistant, 
which conduct inspections at farms, homes, bird markets, and 
sites where migratory birds and ducks gather, to check the 
birds and collect fecal samples; thus far all samples have 
been negative.  The tests are conducted at a PAAAFR 
laboratory, adjacent to the control room, which is also 
staffed 24 hours a day.  Al-Muhanna showed Emboffs one of the 
fecal-sample collection kits, one of 50,000 PAAAFR has on 
hand, and stated that more diagnostic equipment is on order 
including on-site testing kits.  Al-Muhanna said that there 
are also 10 other teams that spray the disinfectant Vercon-S 
(effective in killing the AI virus but not harmful to humans 
or animals) every month on farms, markets, and houses where 
birds are raised, and weekly at local bird markets.  He also 
said that the PAAAFR is still working on the response plan's 
media campaign to inform the public and guard against panic. 
He stated that the materials will be available in Arabic, but 
that he would like to have them in Bengali, Urdu, Tagalog, 
Sinhalese, and English as well; these are the major languages 
spoken by Kuwait's expatriate community, roughly 65% of the 
population. 
 
POULTRY BAN CLARIFIED 
--------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU) When asked to clarify the recent import ban on 
poultry products, Al-Muhanna said that the ban breaks down as 
follows: 
 
-- All waterfowl and "fancy birds" (parrots, etc.) from all 
countries are banned. 
-- All poultry products, including live birds, slaughtered, 
frozen meat, and eggs from countries with reported AI cases 
are banned. 
-- The PAAAFR has canceled all pre-import licenses.  In order 
to allow close scrutiny of importers, all importing companies 
must now re-apply for licenses.  Al-Muhanna said that these 
applications will be checked closely and new licenses will be 
issued to those importers that meet strict safety criteria. 
 
FALCON HUNTING A CAUSE FOR CONCERN 
---------------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) Al-Muhanna said that, as called for in the response 
plan, hunting wild and migratory birds is now banned.  He 
worried about the Kuwaiti pastime of hunting with falcons, 
since the falcons may come in contact with infected migratory 
birds.  In an effort to stem the potential threat from 
falcons, Al-Muhanna said that the PAAAFR has announced that 
Kuwaitis would be permitted to take their falcons out of the 
country (for hunting), but would not be allowed to bring them 
back in.  The U.S. Customs Advisor asked Al-Muhanna about the 
time-lag between announcing the ban (October 25th) and its 
implementation by Kuwaiti Customs, to which Al-Muhanna 
replied that, while a long delay would be expected in normal 
times, because of close coordination among ministries on the 
AI committee, Customs' reaction was immediate. 
 
AL-MUHANNA WORRIED ABOUT AI FROM IRAQ 
------------------------------------- 
 
9.  (SBU) Al-Muhanna stated that both he and the committee 
are concerned about AI entering Kuwait via border crossings; 
two with Saudi Arabia, two seaports (Shuwaikh and Doha), and 
the airport.  Particularly, he noted his concern that AI may 
enter via U.S. military vehicles crossing in Kuwait at 
Coalition Crossing from Iraq, especially given Iraq's current 
lack of regulatory framework, inspectors, diagnostic labs, 
and the large number of migratory birds attracted to the 
marshes in Southern Iraq. 
 
10.  (SBU) Responding to Al-Muhanna's concerns, the U.S. 
military veterinarian replied that the virus cannot survive 
without a live host if exposed to the Kuwait/Iraq dry 
climate, and that disinfecting every vehicle that crosses the 
border with Vercon-S would result in enormous delays.  The 
military veterinarian did offer to allow the trucks' cargo to 
be inspected.  Al-Muhanna asked about bird feces which may be 
brought into Kuwait on the trucks' tires, and proposed to 
construct a concrete-lined trench filled with disinfectant 
(Vercon-S) that the trucks would drive through to disinfect 
their tires, noting the technique's effectiveness in the U.K. 
during the 'hoof and mouth' outbreak.   The veterinarian 
replied that such a trench would take some time to set-up and 
for the concrete to cure, but could be a reasonable 
compromise, if warranted. 
 
11.  (SBU) Al-Muhanna recommended checking with CDC or WHO to 
see if constructing a trench would be effective (NOTE: In a 
subsequent telephone conversation, the U.S. Agriculture 
Attach in Dubai (with regional responsibilities) was 
skeptical that a trench would be worthwhile, given the dry 
climate and the fact that the virus will likely be spread by 
migratory birds, not border traffic.  Post will follow up 
with CDC/WHO to get their assessment of the idea. END NOTE) 
The military veterinarian expressed his concerns that U.S. 
poultry shipments for troops in Iraq not be interrupted, to 
which Al-Muhanna replied that as long as the poultry is 
sourced from a non-infected country there would be no 
problems. (NOTE: At present all poultry entering Kuwait and 
Iraq as military food supply is sourced from the U.S., and 
all eggs are from Kuwait.) 
 
12.  (SBU) Al-Muhanna mentioned that he has been in contact 
with the Arabian Organization for Agricultural Development 
(AOAD), and that the organization is holding an AI training 
course in December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which the GOK 
plans to attend.  One of Al-Muhanna's inspectors is also 
going to the U.S. for a USDA AI detection course in November. 
 
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LEBARON