Phillipines-Bird flu watch up in three Ilocos Norte towns

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Bird flu watch up in three Ilocos Norte towns


by Cristina Arzadon
LAOAG CITY (29 August) -- The Provincial Veterinary's Office has identified wet lands in the towns of Pagudpud, Paoay and Bangui as surveillance areas for migratory birds.
Dr. Loida Chee, provincial veterinarian, said migratory birds have been sighted in large swamps in barangay Saud in Pagudpud, in Manayon marshland in Bangui and at the Paoay Lake in Paoay town beginning December last year to the present.
"Migration season normally begins in September and they leave our area around April or May. We expect thousands of migratory birds to flock towards our area because of its proximity from Taiwan and other Chinese territories," she said.
Migratory birds have been tagged as natural carriers of the avian influenza virus or the bird flu.
The PVET has reactivated the provincial avian influenza task force in line with the bird-flu preparedness of the province.
Chee said the towns were identified as critical areas for surveillance because thousands of wild waterfowls and other species of migratory birds which were mostly cattle egrets were sighted separately.
She noted, however, that lesser birds flocked to Ilocos Norte from June 2006 to June this year compared to the migration season during the same period beginning 2005.
The PVET will start collecting blood samples from fowls and native chicken beginning October to determine whether they are positive of the virus.
Dr. Laarni Cabantac, assistant coordinator of the National Avian Influenza Task Force, said monitoring of critical areas around the country would be strengthened so that it could maintain its status as bird flu-free.
She said airport footbaths (mats where passengers from abroad could step on to sanitize their footwear) have been found to be an effective preventive measure against the entry of the bird virus.
She said the Laoag International Airport should have a footbath installed as a measure against the entry of the virus through the footwear of passengers coming from Asian countries. The task force has adopted other preventive measures such as putting up more laboratories to test the presence of the virus, widen the coverage of areas for disease surveillance and intensify information and education campaign in areas that have been identified as critical due to the presence of migratory birds. :tiphat: http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p070829.htm&no=58

 

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Re: Phillipines-Bird flu watch up in three Ilocos Norte towns


DA setting up 3 more Avian flu laboratories


Manila (28 August) -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is setting up three more avian influenza (AI) diagnostic laboratories in the Visayas and Mindanao to look after the country's multibillion-peso poultry industry and continue shielding Filipinos from this dreaded virus that has already killed 192 people worldwide.
According to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), these laboratories are largely funded by a grant from the Japanese government through the Japan Trust Fund, with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Office Internationale des Epizooties (OIE) or Animal Health Organization providing technical assistance in setting up these facilities.
In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, BAI Officer-in-Charge Davinio Catbagan said these laboratories are now being built in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Zamboanga.
He said these additional laboratories, once completed, will complement the ongoing work being done at the Regional Avian Influenza Diagnostic Laboratory (RAIDL), in Pampanga, which is the country's first diagnostic facility meant to promptly detect the AI virus.
Like the RAIDL, the DA would ensure that these additional facilities fully comply with international standards for a biosafety laboratory and would be capable of conducting various tests to swiftly detect the presence of the AI virus in both live and dead bird samples, Catbagan said.
Setting up more avian flu laboratories, he said, will help keep the Philippines as one of only three countries in Southeast Asia totally free of the dreaded avian influenza or bird flu virus.
The two other AI-free countries in the region are Singapore and Brunei.
On top of building more avian flu diagnostic labs, the BAI will be conducting "real-time simulation exercises" in due time to test the measures already put in place under the Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP).
The BAI is also encouraging poultry farmers to implement security measures to ensure that locally raised fowl continues to be adequately shielded from migratory birds, which are known carriers of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Dr. Samuel B. Animas, chief of the BAI Animal Health Division, said the importance of keeping Philippine poultry farms virus-free cannot be underestimated, considering the devastating impact of an AI outbreak on the P160-billion Philippine poultry industry.
Animas, who has been designated National Avian Influenza Project Coordinator, said it is critically important that migratory birds are prevented from commingling with locally-raised fowl.
Apart from business failures ? from the major league corporate farms to the backyard raisers ? a bird flu outbreak will impact on demand and prices of other staple food items such as pork, beef and fish as consumers shift away from poultry products.
The BAI currently has a team of veterinarians undertaking a nationwide educational campaign for poultry and livestock growers on the threat and perils of the bird flu virus.
Animas said BAI has recently concluded a pilot project with the Japan Trust Fund for the construction of fences as a biosecurity measure.
In the event of a suspected outbreak, Animas disclosed that the avian influenza task force has organized a Rapid Action Team that can be mobilized and deployed within 24 hours and to take the appropriate measures.
Catbagan said that under the AIPP, the bureau will also set up expanded preparedness and response plans at the provincial, municipal and city levels, which would involve creating local task forces, conducting a checklist of AI preparedness measures, drawing up emergency response plans and encouraging local government units to pass ordinances to help address possible outbreaks of the bird flu.
To increase the country's preparedness level against the bird flu, he said the AIPP will also cover the training of more military men and volunteers to adequately and effectively respond to possible outbreaks.
The BAI will also intensify measures on compartmentalization and zoning to include the widening of the areas covered by disease surveillance, he said.
Catbagan said the Bureau will likewise intensify its ongoing information and education campaign in 20 critical areas prone to AI infection, international borders and coastlines and in areas with high concentrations of ducks. As of end-July this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 192 out of 319 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with the AI virus, have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in the region in 2003 and then spread quickly across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.:tiphat: http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p070828.htm&no=30:yinyang: different version in Tatolog dated the 30th:tiphat: http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p070830.htm&no=17