CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Now, it’s the turn of pigs to be protected from human illness.
Dr. Romeo Manalili, chief of the regulatory division of the Department of Agriculture in Central Luzon, said yesterday he has already ordered that humans with any sign of flu be “quarantined” away from pigs being raised in backyards and commercial farms.
“Mexico’s fatal swine flu is in humans, not in swines, so we have to protect our pigs. Roles have been reversed this time,” said Manalili who is the government’s chief veterinarian in Central Luzon.
Only recently, thousands of pigs were killed and cremated in Bulacan amid suspicions that they could carry the Ebola reston virus. The pigs in the farm were initially quarantined to prevent their contact with humans as well as other pigs before authorities decided to kill them as a measure against possible spread of the disease.
Manalili said that humans can contaminate pigs with flu and vice versa. But since the new fatal swine flu initially reported in Mexico City has been found in humans only so far, there is a need to shield pigs from it, he added.
He said he has already ordered that piggery caretakers with any sign of flu be immediately quarantined and prevented from any contact with pigs.
Manalili also noted that pig and poultry raisers have long ago ceased from mixing their animals in one area.
“At the height of the avian flu scare, our local animal raisers already separated their pigs from poultry. It used to be that they raised pigs under the cages of their poultry,” he said.
Manalili also said this measure was stipulated in the five-year anti-bird flu pandemic matrix prepared by the government at the height of the avian flu threat.
He noted that the new AH1N1 virus causing the fatal swine flu in Mexico City could have mutated initially from the combination of bird and swine flu viruses that eventually also mixed with human flu virus.
“This is one theory that is being considered in the new virus, so it is best to separate poultry from piggery,” he said.
Manalili noted that so far, only sporadic cases of ordinary swine flu have been reported in some parts of Central Luzon. “The cases occur normally in areas where pig population is heavy, but the raisers normally resort to anti-flu vaccination to prevent pandemic,” he added.
Dr. Romeo Manalili, chief of the regulatory division of the Department of Agriculture in Central Luzon, said yesterday he has already ordered that humans with any sign of flu be “quarantined” away from pigs being raised in backyards and commercial farms.
“Mexico’s fatal swine flu is in humans, not in swines, so we have to protect our pigs. Roles have been reversed this time,” said Manalili who is the government’s chief veterinarian in Central Luzon.
Only recently, thousands of pigs were killed and cremated in Bulacan amid suspicions that they could carry the Ebola reston virus. The pigs in the farm were initially quarantined to prevent their contact with humans as well as other pigs before authorities decided to kill them as a measure against possible spread of the disease.
Manalili said that humans can contaminate pigs with flu and vice versa. But since the new fatal swine flu initially reported in Mexico City has been found in humans only so far, there is a need to shield pigs from it, he added.
He said he has already ordered that piggery caretakers with any sign of flu be immediately quarantined and prevented from any contact with pigs.
Manalili also noted that pig and poultry raisers have long ago ceased from mixing their animals in one area.
“At the height of the avian flu scare, our local animal raisers already separated their pigs from poultry. It used to be that they raised pigs under the cages of their poultry,” he said.
Manalili also said this measure was stipulated in the five-year anti-bird flu pandemic matrix prepared by the government at the height of the avian flu threat.
He noted that the new AH1N1 virus causing the fatal swine flu in Mexico City could have mutated initially from the combination of bird and swine flu viruses that eventually also mixed with human flu virus.
“This is one theory that is being considered in the new virus, so it is best to separate poultry from piggery,” he said.
Manalili noted that so far, only sporadic cases of ordinary swine flu have been reported in some parts of Central Luzon. “The cases occur normally in areas where pig population is heavy, but the raisers normally resort to anti-flu vaccination to prevent pandemic,” he added.
