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Cablegate: Wgsars: Sars Situation in Vietnam - Update 3/31

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HANOI 000793

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

FOR M/MED C.DUMONT, HODAI, DORSEY;
CA FOR M.HARTY, ANDRUCH;
M FOR ERIN ROONEY, NAMM;
EAP/EX FOR BAER, SHEPPARD, JENKINS;
EAP/BCLTV;
BANGKOK FOR ADM KEUR, RMO KEYES

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMED AMGT CASC TBIO VM
SUBJECT: WGSARS: SARS Situation in Vietnam - Update 3/31


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

REF: Hanoi 789

1. (SBU) For the seventh day in a row, no new cases of SARS were
reported in Vietnam by noon on March 31, possibly indicating that
the outbreak is well-controlled. In Vietnam, WHO experts believe
that rapid detection of the outbreak and immediate introduction
of infection control procedures may have held further
transmission at bay. According to CDC here, health officials are
still surveying closely because of travelers coming in from Hong
Kong, Singapore, and Guangdong, China.

2. (SBU) Three patients remain in the French Hospital; one is
seriously ill and two are improving. 23 patients are in the
Tropical Medicine Institute of Bach Mai Hospital. The cumulative
total stands at 58 cases of SARS including 4 deaths and 23
discharged patients. Discharged patients are released according
to WHO /Ministry of Health guideline policies. All patients and
their contacts are carefully monitored.

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3. (SBU) The French DCM told us today that Paris suddenly
changed its mind on evacuating several SARS patients from the
French Hospital to France over the weekend. A French military
aircraft had been scheduled to arrive on March 28 to transport
the patients, but was cancelled at the last minute. Instead,
France has sent a nine person medical team from the defense
health services to work with the three remaining patients at the
hospital. According to the French DCM, the decontamination of
the hospital will begin shortly and will work "around" the three
remaining patients. Although the private hospital has not yet
found the necessary financing to reopen, the French DCM noted
that it had been deemed worthy of public support in the form of a
French military medical team. She was cautiously optimistic that
partial public funding might be found.

4. (U) WHO infectious disease specialist in Hanoi, Dr. Carlo
Urbani, who died of SARS on March 29 in Thailand, was the first
doctor to describe the clinical characteristics of SARS.
According to the UNDP, his report, which includes the incubation
period of this new disease, remains valid and still provides much
of our understanding of SARS.
BURGHARDT

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