Philippines detects first African swine fever outbreak in southern province

MANILA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Blood samples taken from pigs in a
southern province in the Philippines, the world's 10th-largest
pork consumer, tested positive for the African swine fever
virus, the Department of Agriculture said on Sunday.
It was the first reported case of African swine fever
infections in Davao Occidental province and elsewhere in
Mindanao, the southern island of the Southeast Asian nation.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar has ordered regional
department officials to restrict animal movement in that part of
the archipelago, the department said in a statement.
The Philippines, also the world's seventh-biggest pork
importer, reported its first African swine fever outbreak in
September 2019, in some backyard farms near the country's
capital, Manila. The disease quickly spread to other parts of the main island
of Luzon, including Manila, prompting some central and southern
provinces to ban pork and pork-based products from disease-hit
areas. Dar has said pork smuggled from China, where millions of
pigs were culled because of the disease, could be behind the
outbreak in the Philippines.
Although the blood samples from pigs in Davao Occidental had
already tested positive for African swine fever, further tests
were to be undertaken by the department's Bureau of Animal
Industry for confirmation.
The department said the initial tests covered blood samples
from more than a dozen villages in the province.
The provincial government has already imposed a "complete,
but temporary, lock down", prohibiting the transport of pigs and
pork products from and into Davao Occidental, it said.
"Backyard pig farmers in the area practice group rearing of
hogs, from different owners, most (of them without) proper
housing provisions nor biosecurity practices," the department
said.
There was also no regular vaccination, vitamin
supplementation and deworming of pigs in the province, and
household butchering is common, especially with animals
exhibiting weakness or disease, it said.
Around a thousand pigs in Davao Occidental have been culled
amid the outbreak, according to local media reports, citing
information from the provincial government.
Philippine agricultural output grew at an annual pace of
0.4% in the last quarter of 2019, slower than the 2.9% gain in
the September quarter, as hogs production contracted.
Though not harmful to humans, the disease is deadly to pigs,
with no vaccine available.