Philippines: CSF hits North Cotabato
A suspected Classical Swine Fever (CSF) outbreak in three North Cotabato towns on the Philippines has resulted in the deaths of 240 pigs since last week, Businessworld reports.
Dr Enrico P. Garzon, chief provincial veterinarian, has advised owners of affected hogs to bury them as consuming infected meat may be dangerous to human health. CSF is also known as hog cholera.
“The suspected hog cholera outbreak hit the towns of Alamada, Aleosan and Midsayap,” Garzon said.
Verification
Dr John B. Pascual, Department of Agriculture (DA) livestock division chief, said news of the hog cholera outbreak has reached their office here and that they will verify the report.
“We will get tissue samples and have them tested in our laboratory. We will resort to quarantining pigs [in] North Cotabato if we confirm that there is indeed a hog cholera outbreak in the area,” he said.
Scheduled programme
North Cotabato vice-governor Emmanuel F. Piñol was concerned on the outbreak’s impact to a scheduled programme launch to increase the income of backyard swine growers. He confirmed that hogs have been dying but ‘they are in remote areas’ of the province and that the case ‘was not alarming’.
The island of Mindanao has been certified FMD-free by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or World Organization for Animal Health.
Related websites:
Businessworld
World Organization for Animal Health
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