Amid report of ASF cases in San Sebastian Samar
TACLOBAN CITY – The municipality of Calbiga, Samar established an animal quarantine checkpoint on May 26 following reports of a possible African Swine Fever (ASF) case in the municipality of San Sebastian, also in Samar.
According to Samar Provincial Veterinary Office Chief Narlit Bisnar, the decision was a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the ASF virus.
Reports indicated a 70 percent mortality rate among infected swine in the villages of Camanhagay and Dolores, both in San Sebastian.
Authorities in San Sebastian conducted a sampling of the swine allegedly infected with the virus, and the samples are being analyzed in concerned offices in Tacloban.
Although official reports of the laboratory tests have not yet been released, the LGU of Calbiga, upon hearing the reports of possible infection and death of swine, implemented precautionary measures.
Authorities from the municipal government of Calbiga have advised the community to refrain from buying pork meat from San Sebastian as a precautionary measure.
Bisnar said that while they have yet to receive the official results of the laboratory tests from the San Sebastian cases, they deemed it proper to give the municipal government of Calbiga the go-ahead to establish its animal checkpoint in Barangay Timbangan.
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and deadly swine disease that can affect both farm-raised and feral (wild) pigs.
ASF does not infect people, but it is readily passed from one pig to another by direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected pig.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
