By Ira Karen Apanay , Senior Reporter
The animal disease swine influenza, which has killed more than 81
persons and made at least 1,000 people ill in Mexico and the US, has reportedly
spread to Pangasinan—contrary to government reports.
The government-run Philippine News Agency reported Saturday
that Provincial Board Member Danilo Uy of Pangasinan’s fifth district has
detected swine flu, adding “the disease initially afflicted hogs raised in
backyard farms.”
Uy, chairman of the committee on agriculture in the
Sangguniang Panlalawigan and owner of a commercial hog farm in Binalonan town,
said that in his rounds of the province, barangay officials reported to him that
many hogs in their villages were dying from a mysterious disease, which was
diagnosed later to be swine flu.
The provincial board member said that fortunately, the disease
afflicted only hogs raised in backyards, sparing the hogs in commercial farms,
which are better protected from diseases by regular treatments with
disinfectants.
The state news agency also reported that the Provincial
Veterinary Office headed by Dr. Benedicto Perez confirmed that “several hogs
raised in backyards were indeed downed by swine flu in different towns of
Pangasinan.”
Alarmed by the disease, Perez mobilized his men to take
samples of the dead hogs for submission to the Regional Animal Disease
Diagnostic Laboratory in San Fernando City, La Union.
Perez’s office reported that swine flu is already raging in
Lingayen, Labrador, Aguilar and San Manuel.
In Lingayen, the villages where swine flu was detected
included Malawa, Basing, Dulag, Tumbar, Wawa, Lasip, Rosario and Malimpuec.
Report not true
Director Davinio Catbagan of the Bureau of Animal Industry
(BAI), in a phone interview with The Manila Times on Sunday, denied the reported
spread of swine flu in the Philippines.
He said swine influenza is widely distributed in the world,
but the Philippines has not recorded any outbreak of that disease.
Although the country is not importing live pigs and their
products from Mexico, Catbagan told The Times that prevention of entry of pork
and its products from Mexico is a valid precautionary measure.
He was referring to an order also on Sunday by Agriculture
Secretary Arthur Yap, who temporarily banned hogs or pork products from the
Mexico and US from entering the Philippines.
“While available information does not link swine farms to the
current human cases of SI [Swine Influenza] in Mexico and USA, just the same, as
a precautionary measure I ordered BAI [Bureau of Animal Industry] to strengthen
the monitoring of all the ports of entry to prevent the entry of any hogs/pork
from Mexico and US,” Yap said in a text message to The Times.
The temporary ban is designed to protect the hog industry in
the country, the secretary explained. He added that he also ordered the
augmentation of existing quarantine checkpoints to further prevent movement of
sick pigs.
Catbagan explained that the government would rather issue a
temporary ban at the moment than be caught unawares of the entry of infected
pigs.
Swine flu vaccine
Yap told The Times that he ordered Catbagan to lift the
restriction of issuing import permit of swine influenza vaccines and to
encourage hog farmers to regularly vaccinate their pigs.
Before the outbreak in Mexico and US, Catbagan said the
government was regulating the importation of Swine Influenza vaccines based on
the order of some farm owners, who voluntarily want to vaccinate their pigs
against the virus.
“We will now encourage farms to vaccinate their pigs against
the virus,” said Catbagan, adding that he called on Saturday five major
companies that manufactures the swine flu vaccine and informed them that the
government has lifted the import restriction.
At present, Catbagan added, the country has 1 million buffer
stocks of swine flu vaccines.
Asia on alert
Asian health officials went on alert and urged the public to
be vigilant also on Sunday amid the threat of a flu strain that has killed up to
81 people in Mexico and sparked warnings of a potential pandemic. (See related
story C4.)
Governments across the region, which have in recent years been
at the forefront of battling epidemics like the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) and bird flu, urged the public, especially travelers, to be on
guard for symptoms of the new multistrain of swine fever.
In New Zealand, a 25-strong school group was quarantined
pending the results of medical tests after returning from Mexico with flu-like
symptoms, local health authorities said. Results were expected later
Sunday.
In Japan, airports tightened checks on passengers arriving
from Mexico, with quarantine officials giving out facemasks and using
thermography-imaging cameras to screen for passengers with a fever.
Health officials handed out leaflets to those headed for
Mexico and the United States, urging them to wear facemasks and wash their hands
regularly to prevent swine-flu infection.
A Japanese health ministry hotline for worried members of the
public attracted some 400 calls on Saturday alone, according to a ministry
official.
Australia urged people who had recently returned from Mexico
and had developed flu-like symptoms to seek medical advice.
South Korean health, agriculture and foreign ministry
officials held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue, while in China, the
health ministry said it was “paying close attention” to the situation.
In Hong Kong, health officials said checks at border crossings
had been stepped up and that airlines had been asked to broadcast messages on
all flights coming direct from affected areas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Saturday that the
virus had the potential to become a pandemic, labeling the current outbreak “a
public health emergency of international concern.”
It said it was recommending that all countries “intensify
surveillance for unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe
pneumonia.”
Tamiflu vs. swine flu
An expert in disease control said New Zealand could not stop
the spread of a new strain of swine flu simply by stopping travel.
Roger Morris, an international disease control consultant,
said at this stage the virus seems to react to Tamilfu and any early cases that
arrived in New Zealand would be treated with the drug, the Newstalk ZB radio
reported on Sunday.
He added that there would be enough people incubating the
disease who will get through the system and continue to spread it. --
With AFP And Xinhua |