Benguet shakes off fowl disease

MANILA, Philippines  —There are now 15 provinces that have fully recovered from the scourge of bird flu, and Benguet became the latest province to raise defenses against the spread of the animal disease.

In Memorandum Circular No. 3 signed Feb. 13, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Benguet no longer has cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

The DA said latest tests yielded negative results more than 90 days since the end of cleaning and disinfection operations and surveillance activities covering poultry farms.

Before Benguet, the DA said the provinces of Camarines Sur, Davao del Sur, Rizal, South Cotabato, Ilocos Sur, Batangas, Capiz, Quezon, Aurora, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, Cotabato, Isabela and Maguindanao del Sur have become free from the bird flu.

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According to the World Organization for Animal Health’s terrestrial animal health code, a previously free country or zone may regain its avian influenza-free status at least 28 days after completing a stamping-out policy and disinfecting the last affected establishment, and that ensuing surveillance demonstrated the absence of infection.

Benguet had recorded 11 confirmed cases of HPAI subtype H5N1 detected in Baguio City and the towns of Atok, Buguias, Itogon, La Trinidad, Sablan and Tublay from February to March, May to July and September 2022 — affecting duck, native chicken, chicken layer, gamefowl, culled broiler breeder, turkey and goose.

Depopulation

The provincial government of Benguet and concerned city and town governments, in coordination with the DA’s regional field office in Cordillera and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), conducted disease investigation, immediate depopulation, cleaning and disinfection.

Local authorities also implemented movement restrictions and continued disease monitoring and surveillance in the one-kilometer and seven-km surveillance zones surrounding the affected farms.

READ: DA orders tighter restrictions to halt bird flu outbreak

Before detecting and confirming the presence of bird flu, Benguet had been free from avian influenza by applying effective disease control measures such as stamping out, cleaning and disinfection operations, biosecurity and other quarantine activities to prevent the further spread from infected premises.

According to the BAI, the number of remaining affected areas stands at 10 provinces in six regions as of Feb. 9. No positive cases of bird flu have been reported as of the most recent monitoring period, from Feb. 3 to 9.

“There was no ongoing case since culling/depopulation and surveillance activities within [the] one-km radius in the previously reported cases were completed,” the BAI said.

However, the agency detected low pathogenicity avian influenza subtype H9N2 in a commercial duck farm in Bulacan province.