African swine fever alert: 3 Rizal barangays quarantined

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:39 p.m.) — Three barangays in Rodriguez, Rizal have been quarantined amid reports of an increase in the number of pig deaths in recent days.

Barangays Macabud, San Isidro and San Jose have been quarantined since Saturday, the Rodriguez Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) bared yesterday.

“The doctors of Region 4-A are there, about 40 doctors,” Genaro Inocentes of the MDRRMO said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) implemented the so-called one-seven-10 principle over the weekend. This means that all hogs within the one-kilometer radius will be culled while those in seven and 10-kilometer radiuses are under strict surveillance.

The DA has yet to confirm if the cause of high pig mortality in the barangays was due to the African swine fever (ASF).

Last Friday, the DA received a report on ”increased mortality of pigs raised by farmers in their backyards” from the  Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

The DA is conducting confirmatory laboratory tests, including sending blood samples to laboratories abroad, to determine the cause of  death of the animals.

ASF task force member and BAI veterinarian Joy Lagayan said the mortality rate in the three barangays rose by 20 percent against an average of only three to five percent.

The DA will hold a press conference today to give updates.

The Philippines had earlier banned pork imports from Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latvia, Laos, Moldova, Mongolia, North Korea, Poland, Romania Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam and  Zambia.

ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease of pigs, warthogs, European wild boar and American wild pigs.

Mortality rates are high as 100 percent.

(Editor's note: The headline of this article originally read "African swine flu alert: 3 Rizal barangays quarantined". "Flu" has been changed to "fever".)