DAVAO CITY – The confirmed cases of African Swine Fever in Davao Occidental and a suspected case in Davao del Sur, has prompted the city government to ban the entry of live pigs, pork meat and other bi-products from said provinces.starting Monday, February 3..
In an interview with the media, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio explained that the move was necessary to protect the Davao consumers and hog raisers from contamination.
During the interview, the Mayor stressed “This morning (Monday), I received a report that there is a suspected case in Davao del Sur for ASF. We will no longer wait for the result of the tests. We include the banning of their province to further protect the hog industry and hog farmers here in our city.”
“We will not allow any products coming from those provinces. We do not have a case here in Davao City and we’d like to keep it that way,” she said.
Noel Provido, spokesperson of Dept. of Agriculture XI in an interview with TV Patrol Southern Mindanao said they are now instituting measures to prevent the spread of ASF.
What is ASF?
According to African swine fever virus is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family. It is the causative agent of African swine fever. The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly as a week after infection.
ASF is a highly contagious viral disease that affects pigs, warthogs, and boars
Is it harmful to humans?
The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) said, ASF is not considered as a human health threat. But humans can become carriers of the virus once tainted pork is ingested or if people get close to the infected meat.
Dr. Kevin Sharrett, a primary care physician from Ohio, said ASF does not affect humans and therefore is not a public health threat according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
She said African swine fever is a viral disease impacting only pigs, not people—so it is not a public health threat and ASF cannot be transmitted to humans through contact with pigs or pork.
However, the virus can also survive even if the meat has been processed or canned.
The discovery:
On January 28, the regional office of the Department of Agriculture received reports about death of pigs in Don Marcelino town in Davao Oriental, which prompted them to field their technical personnel and veterinarian to asses the area and take samples, according to Provida.
The samples were sent to the DA laboratory in General Santos City and the other to Bureau of Animal Industry laboratory in Manila for the confirmatory test.
Laboratory examinations of affected animals revealed similarities of lesions for classical swine fever or hog cholera and ASF.
On January 31, the DA announced that Samples confirmed the ASF case in Don Marcelino town in Davao Occidental–the first in Mindanao.
The LOCKDOWN
After the confirmation, the DA XI immediately activated the Animal Disease Task Force and enforce the total but temporary lockdown.
On February 1, the lockdown was imposed, which means “All live, pigs products and bi-products (longanisa and tocino) are not allowed to get out of the area,” Provida said.
Dar recommended the total but temporary lockdown with the implementation of 1-7-10 protocol ; establishment of 24/7 quarantine checkpoints, secured by barangay tanod and uniformed AFP and PNP personnel.
The 1-7 protocol means all pig growers within the one-kilometer radius from the ground zero are affected and the next ten kilometers must be observed.
On February 2, Secretary Dar visited Don Marcelino, the ground zero of the yesterday to personally assess the situation and consulted the farmers and local officials. He also had a dialogue with Governor Claude Bautista where both officials identified collaborative support to affected farmers
Don Marcelino Mayor Michael Maruya claimed about 1,000 pigs in eight barangays, namely Linadasan, North Lamidan, South Lamidan, Calian, Mabuhay, Lawa, Nueva Villa, and Baluntaya have died.
The Secretary also order the DA-BAI (Bureau of Animal Industry) regional VQOs to conduct a “trace-back” and “trace-forward” investigations, particularly in areas where Don Marcelino actively trades with like the towns of Malita, Santa Maria, Jose Abad Santos, all in Davao Occidental and Sulop, in Davao Del Sur.
The DA called on all hog raisers to properly dispose the pigs (bury) and depopulate their piggery.
Government support
All affected farmers will receive P5,000 which will be taken against the agency’s indemnity fund and it will be given to all registered and affected farmers.
The department is also offering a soft loan amounting to P30,000 payable in three (3) years but the agency encouraged farmers to invest in other areas until the ASF virus is totally out.-Editha Z. Caduaya/NewsLine.ph
