Gov’t detects first African swine fever outbreak in south
BLOOD samples taken from pigs in a southern province in the Philippines, the world’s 10th-largest pork consumer, tested positive for the African swine fever virus, the Department of Agriculture said on Sunday.
It was the first reported case of African swine fever infections in Davao Occidental province and elsewhere in Mindanao, the southern island of the Southeast Asian nation.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar has ordered regional department officials to restrict animal movement in that part of the archipelago, the department said in a statement.
The Philippines, also the world’s seventh-biggest pork importer, reported its first African swine fever outbreak in September 2019, in some backyard farms near the country’s capital, Manila.
The disease quickly spread to other parts of the main island of Luzon, including Manila, prompting some central and southern provinces to ban pork and pork-based products from disease-hit areas.
Mr. Dar has said pork smuggled from China, where millions of pigs were culled because of the disease, could be behind the outbreak in the Philippines.
Although the blood samples from pigs in Davao Occidental had already tested positive for African swine fever, the agency’s Bureau of Animal Industry will conduct further tests for confirmation.
The initial tests covered blood samples from more than a dozen villages in the province, it said.
The provincial government has imposed a “complete but temporary lock down,” prohibiting the transport of pigs and pork products from and into Davao Occidental, it said.
“Backyard pig farmers in the area practice group rearing of hogs, from different owners, most of them without proper housing provisions or biosecurity practices,” the Agriculture department said.
Pigs are also not regularly vaccinated and dewormed and rarely get vitamin supplements in the province. Household butchering is common, especially with animals exhibiting weakness or disease, it said.
About a thousand pigs in Davao Occidental have been culled amid the outbreak, according to local media reports, citing information from the provincial government.
Philippine agricultural output grew at an annual pace of 0.4% in the last quarter, slower than the 2.9% gain in third quarter, as hogs production contracted.
Though not harmful to humans, the disease is deadly to pigs, with no vaccine available. — Reuters
