Swine Flu hits Phillipines (in pigs)

Monday, April 27, 2009

‘Swine flu’ hits Pangasinan

But bureau director contradicts report

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