CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Dozens of dead hogs in two town of Misamis Oriental showed African Swine Fever (ASF) sign and symptoms.
Dr. Benjamin Resma, Provincial Veterinarian of the Department of Agriculture Regional Office X, in an interview on February 10 revealed that 37 hogs have died in the neighboring towns of Manticao and Initao in Misamis Oriental, which showed signs and symptoms of ASF.
Resma said those that died had shown symptoms of the African Swine Fever (ASF), including bleeding, difficulty of breathing and dark spots on their body.
He said they have already established a cordon of 500-meter radius in the affected towns, while blood samples were taken from the deceased hogs.
Resma said he has already instructed the local government officials and hog raisers not to sell or move their livestock from their farms.
“I have already met with the mayors and barangay chairmen and advised them to see to it there will be no movement of hogs in their localities pending the result of the laboratory examination,” he said.
The Department of Agriculture-10 (DA-10) has a testing laboratory for ASF in the region, but samples have to be taken to another laboratory in General Santos City for confirmatory test, said Carlota Madriaga, DA-10 regional technical director for operations.
She said they have conducted testing of the samples from the affected farms, but will need the result from General Santos before the agriculture department can declare if the infection is caused by ASF or not.
Madriaga said DA-10 has been reminding the growers regarding the dangers of the ASF.
Since the ASF has already entered Mindanao, she said “it’s just a matter of time before it could move to another area”.
Madriaga said they also received reports of hog deaths in at least two barangays in Cagayan de Oro, although the city veterinary office has yet to divulge details of these cases.
Meanwhile, the Northern Mindanao Hog Raisers Association (NorMinHog) has turned over P200,000 worth of reagents and laboratory supplies to DA-10 recently, the Phil. Information Agency reported.
Madriaga said the ASF laboratory supplies, which include primers, probes, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), can test 1,000 reactions. It will be used by the agency’s Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory to test blood samples of hogs.
She said the reagents are significant in monitoring hog farms to prevent another ASF infection in the region.
For his part, Leon Tan Jr., NorMinHog president, said backyard hog raisers must use healthy and safe feeds that are available in the market, instead of swill feeding to avoid the risk of contracting the disease.
