By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
The Negros Occidental provincial government will wait for confirmatory test results from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) following the detection of African swine fever (ASF) in Pulupandan town.
The Department of Agriculture in Western Visayas (DA-6) has already confirmed the case, which became the province’s first ASF case reported on Tuesday, May 30.
However, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said they have yet to receive the official report confirming the case.
“We have a lot of healthy pigs around. That’s why let’s not be quick in declaring ASF [cases]. We are compassionate with our hog raisers,” Lacson said.
He said the province is already taking measures to prevent the spread of ASF.
They will isolate the hogs within the 500-meter radius from the infected area for the next 15 days.
In the event that there are no infections, they can confirm the case was isolated.
“If there is, then we will continue to proceed with the BAI protocol of [isolating within] seven and 10 kilometers,” he said.
Blood testing will be conducted and hogs will be placed under surveillance with restricted movements.
“There will be no in and out in the area where there is ASF. Once the area is declared a red zone, you’re limited within your area. That’s why we have to be very careful,” Lacson said.
He added the provincial government is already treating or has already passed protocols to address the worst case scenario.
“That is now the status as far as the province is concerned,” he said.
Lacson is encouraging depopulation of hogs in the province, stating that raisers should no longer wait for the ideal hog weight but rather dispose of their hogs early while they are still healthy.
Based on a report issued by BAI’s Veterinary Laboratory Division in Quezon City, the ASF-positive hog was from Pulupandan’s Barangay Mabini.
Four hog blood samples were collected on May 23, and reported by the BAI on Tuesday.
One sample tested positive for ASF.
Negros Occidental recorded 7,229 swine deaths due to hog cholera and other diseases in 14 local government units, data from the Provincial Veterinary Office showed.
Losses due to hog deaths are now more than P93 million, it added.
Bacolod ASF cases confirmed
Meanwhile, the BAI, based on laboratory test results, affirmed the two pigs from Bacolod City’s Barangay Taculing are ASF-positive.
However, the third sample from the same village tested negative for ASF.
Six hogs have also died in Barangay Tangub recently.
Barangay captain Noli Villarosa said initial test results by DA-6 reported that a blood sample had tested positive for the hog illness.
Confirmatory test results have yet to be released.
The hog deaths were from the city sub-villages of Paghidaet and Kasilingan.
Villarosa said they are planning to buy hogs in the village at P3,000 each to help the raisers.
Strict monitoring measures from other sub-villages are also implemented to prevent the spread of ASF or other hog-related illnesses./With reports from PNA / DGB, WDJ