By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The local government unit of Bago City in Negros Occidental implements blood sampling from dead pigs to contain the spread of hog cholera, and a precaution against the entry of African swine fever (ASF) in the province.

Mayor Nicholas Yulo said yesterday morning they have already intensified blood sampling three weeks ago after they monitored a clustering of hog deaths in the city.

The samples were sent to the Provincial Veterinary Office in Bacolod City and were tested positive for hog cholera.

Yulo also pointed out that hog cholera and ASF likely have the same symptoms.

“We are following the protocols implemented by the Bureau of Animal Industry like strictly isolating [sick] pigs,” Yulo said.

Raisers are also prohibited from transporting or selling hogs from infected areas to another.

Bago City logged the highest number of hog deaths in the province at 755, while Barangay Sagasa currently has the highest number of cases in the locality.

“There is a half-kilometer radius where one can sell your pigs,” Yulo said.

So far, he added that the cholera-affected hogs are about three percent of the city’s total hog population.

Earlier, the Negros Occidental provincial government said it logged more than 2,000 hog deaths since April of this year.

Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson had already issued an executive order forming an Incident Management Team to monitor the health of hogs in the province.

The provincial government also sent 27 samples to the Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas, which all tested negative for ASF.

Despite the province remaining ASF-free, Lacson said they have begun preparations for the possible entry of the hog disease into the province.

Lacson ordered all local government units to set up border controls in all villages to limit the movement of sick pigs.

He added that they will not stop raisers from shipping their pigs out of the province as long as they provide the required shipping documents at the border control points.

According to the Iowa State University in the United States, hog cholera, also known as “classical swine fever,” is a highly contagious disease of swine.

The disease occurs in most major swine-raising countries where eradication programs have not been successfully implemented.

The disease is currently endemic, mostly in Asia.

However, unlike ASF, there is an existing vaccine for hog cholera. The virus is also harmless to humans./DGB, WDJ