LAGAWE, Ifugao – The Bureau of Animal Industry in the Cordillera oriented about 40 traders, farmers and livestock workers in the province about the African Swine Fever.
BAI Veterinary Quarantine Officer Jordan Bayudang reiterated the ASF affects domestic pigs, warthogs, forest hogs and all members of the pig family and is different from the Swine Influenza Virus (SIV).
ASF is not zoonatic, there is no available treatment, no vaccine available and has a 100 percent mortality rate. The modes of transmission of the ASF virus include materials, infected pigs, feeds, soft ticks, carcasses, human beings and boars. Clinical signs of the disease are the pigs visibly weak with fever and huddle to stay warm, bloody diarrhea and distinct red areas on skin of neck, chest and extremities, bluing at the tips of the ears and necrotic lesions on the skin of the abdomen neck and ears.
Virus detection from post infection can be gathered from frozen meat, blood, skin/fat, ham bone marrow, chilled meat, salted meat, liquid manure, feces, and urine.
He shared to the participants pointers in helping contain ASF. He said livestock raisers should keep their pigs healthy and their surroundings clean, avoid feeding them with swill or left-over food especially those taken from eateries and restaurants, implement biosecurity measures of footbath and foot mat in their farms to ensure the safety of their pigs. If symptoms are observed in the pigs, they should immediately consult the nearest veterinary office.
Bayudang said there are now 23 countries affected by the ASF of which importation of live pigs, pork meat and its by-products are banned. These are China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Zambia, Slovakia, Serbia, South Korea, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova and Poland.
Currently, the BAI is implementing prevention measures such as banning pork imports from ASF- affected countries, prohibiting or avoiding swill feeding (leftover foods), blocking entry of hand-carried meat, educating people, submission of blood samples, confiscation of “hot” meat and the vigorous enforcement of the 1-7-10 Protocols to manage, and containing and controlling suspected swine disease. – Dan. B. Codamon
