ASF hits 2 cities, town in CamSur
LEGAZPI CITY—African swine fever (ASF) has resurfaced in two cities and a town in Camarines Sur, affecting six hog raisers and prompting the culling of 10 pigs, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Bicol.
The infections were detected in Iriga City on July 28, Naga City on Aug. 5 and Nabua on Aug. 7.
DA Bicol information officer Lovella Guarin said the affected areas were Barangays La Purisima, Santiago and La Trinidad in Iriga; Barangay Carolina in Naga; and Barangay Lourdes Old in Nabua.
Blood samples from the affected areas tested positive for ASF at the DA Bicol Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory through real-time polymerase chain reaction testing.
Guarin said the affected local governments had started culling infected hogs and were conducting surveillance and monitoring in the affected barangays.
Authorities have also imposed strict biosecurity measures, including the cleaning and disinfection of pigpens, as well as border controls and restrictions on the movement of hogs.
The DA, in coordination with the Bureau of Animal Industry, National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) and local governments, is enforcing measures to contain the spread of the virus.
‘Hot meat’
On Aug. 12, meat inspectors seized 94.9 kilos of pork, or “hot meat,” from two vendors in Bula town.
Dr. Alex Templonuevo, regional technical director of the NMIS Regional Technical Operations Center in Bicol, said the seizure was made during a joint meat market monitoring and enforcement operation with the Bula municipal government in the villages of Palsong and San Jose.
He said the pork had not been subjected to the required meat inspection, in violation of Republic Act No. 10536, or the Meat Inspection Code of the Philippines.
Templonuevo said the sale of uninspected meat could pose risks to public health and the livestock industry, including the spread of ASF.
The seized pork was valued at P24,674, based on an average market price of P260 per kilo.
It was later condemned and disposed of at the condemnation pit of the municipal slaughterhouse.
