The Provincial Veterinary Office has debunked reports of bird flu cases in the hinterland barangay of Amio in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental.
There is no truth to reports of cases of avian influenza in Amio due to increased number of cough and flu cases among residents, numbering about 32, 15 of whom are out-patients as well as the deaths of fighting cocks in the area.
Provincial Veterinarian Jaime Villaluz issued his statement late Thursday after the conduct of a pulong-pulong (dialogue) in Amio with the barangay council headed by village chief Alberto Omangay, along with the Integrated Provincial Health Office represented by Dr. Henrissa Calumpang, affected residents and the public.
It was disclosed during the dialogue that a backyard fighting cock breeder was in the process of immunizing his fighting cocks with commercial live vaccines.
He was told only healthy chickens should be vaccinated and so he disposed of the unhealthy cocks to his neighbors, prompting the virus to spread, suspected to be that of the Newcastle disease.
Villaluz enjoins poultry raisers to take extra precautions in applying commercial live vaccines on chickens and fighting cocks because spillage will allow the virus to be carried airborne and contaminate the neighboring farms or backyards, coupled with improper disposal of dead fighting cocks, which according to the report were thrown only to the river.
The chief of the Amio Community Primary Hospital, Dr. Dino Oracion, had earlier expressed concern over the rise in the number of outpatients with cough and flu, prompting him to relay the matter to Assistant IPH Officer Dr. Liland Estacion.
Immediately, a team from the IPHO headed by Dr. Calumpang, provincial veterinary officer Villaluz, the rural and municipal health officers of Sta. Catalina as well as the municipal agricultural officer was sent to barangay Amio to conduct a validation and verification on the reported incident.
Villaluz and his team is expected to go back to collect blood and cloacal swab samples for analysis, even if indications are high that the deaths of fighting cocks is due to the usual chicken diseases.
Sta. Catalina is among eight local government units in Negros Oriental being identified as high risk of avian influenza due to the presence of migratory birds in the area, along with Siaton and Bayawan in the third district, Tanjay and Bais cities in the second district and Manjuyod, Ayungon and Canlaon City in the third district.
Meanwhile, the city veterinary office in Dumaguete has completed the collection of 30 cloacal swab and blood samples from chickens suspected of having diseases in Barangay Talay to be sent to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Cebu for analysis.
City Veterinarian Dr. Lourdes Socorro reported a mortality of 32 of chickens in a certain neighborhood in one purok only in Talay.
She said the concentration in one “purok” may have been due to the improper disposal of chickens affected with the chicken disease that caused the virus to spread.
The source was determined to be from a backyard breeder of fighting cocks in the area that reported a mortality of 15 while a contaminated bird given to a neighbor had also died and the third neighbor had a mortality of more than 15.
But the fourth household with 30 heads of native chickens and the fifth with several layers of quails were spared so far of the virus.
The samples were set to be sent Friday to Cebu.
Meanwhile, the City of Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental, is still safe from the bird flu virus even as laboratory testing is now being done on a number of chickens that were reported dead early this week here.
City Agriculturist Ablong said they hope that it is just “atay” or Newcastle’s disease that has caused the demise of the fowls and not bird flu.
Meanwhile, Ablong assured the public that Dumaguete City is still safe and free from the bird flu virus that has affected Pampanga and some areas in Luzon.
For his part, Mayor Felipe Remollo would not want to unduly alarm the public in urging backyard chicken keepers in the city to cooperate in order to preserve the industry while the samples are being analyzed in Cebu.
Everybody must cooperate by reporting high mortality of birds so that proper investigation can be conducted without delay. (With reports from JG and JFP)
