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 The Bureau of Animal Industry had reported an increased mortality of
pigs "raised by farmers in their backyards", but further laboratory
tests were needed to confirm any outbreak of swine fever,
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Monday.
The Southeast Asian nation last year put safeguards in place to
protect its $5 billion hog industry from the highly contagious
disease, for which there is no cure and no vaccine.
It has far banned pork and pork-based products from more than a
dozen countries, including Vietnam, Laos and China, where the
outbreak has spread throughout the mainland, as well as to Hong
Kong.
African swine fever causes high fever, loss of appetite,
hemorrhages, and death among domestic and wild pigs. It does not
pose a health risk to humans.
The crisis team will implement measures to "manage, contain and
control the suspected animal disease or diseases," Dar said in a
media briefing.
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He had directed the bureau to conduct further confirmatory
laboratory tests, including sending blood samples to foreign
laboratories, to determine the cause of the pigs' deaths.
Dar declined to specify the areas where the deaths occurred, and
said the tests would be completed in two weeks at the earliest.
The Philippines' import ban also covers pork and pork-based products
from Germany, North Korea, Belgium, Hungary, Latvia, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, South
Africa, Zambia, and Mongolia.
(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; editing by Richard Pullin)
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