August 28, 2007

 

Philippines to build three more bird flu laboratories

 

 

The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) will build three diagnostic laboratories for bird flu in the Visayas and Mindanao to shield the country's multi-billion-peso poultry industry as well as protecting its citizens from this dreaded virus that has already killed 192 people worldwide.

 

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said these laboratories are largely funded by a grant from the Japanese government through the Japan Trust Fund, with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health providing technical assistance in setting up these facilities.

 

BAI officer-in-charge Davinio Catbagan said these laboratories are now being built in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Zamboanga.

 

He said these additional laboratories will complement the ongoing work being done at the Regional Avian Influenza Diagnostic Laboratory (RAIDL) in Pampanga, which is the country's first diagnostic facility meant to promptly detect the AI virus.

 

Like the RAIDL, the DA will ensure that these additional facilities fully comply with international standards for a biosafety laboratory and would be capable of conducting various tests to swiftly detect the presence of the AI virus in both live and dead bird samples, Catbagan said.

 

Setting up more avian flu laboratories, he said, will maintain the Philippines as one of only three countries in Southeast Asia totally free of the dreaded avian influenza or bird flu virus.

 

The two other AI-free countries in the region are Singapore and Brunei.

 

On top of building more avian flu diagnostic labs, the BAI will be conducting real-time simulation exercises in due time to test the measures already put in place under the Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP).

 

The BAI is also encouraging poultry farmers to implement security measures to ensure that locally raised fowl continues to be adequately shielded from migratory birds, which are known carriers of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.

 

Dr Samuel B. Animas, chief of the BAI Animal Health Division, said the importance of keeping Philippine poultry farms virus-free cannot be underestimated, considering the devastating impact of an AI outbreak on the P160 billion (US$3.4 billion) Philippine poultry industry.

 

Animas, who has been designated National Avian Influenza Project Coordinator, said it is critically important that migratory birds are prevented from commingling with locally-raised fowl.

 

Apart from business failures - from the major league corporate farms to the backyard raisers, a bird flu outbreak will impact on demand and prices of other staple food items such as pork, beef and fish as consumers shift away from poultry products.

 

The BAI currently has a team of veterinarians undertaking a nationwide educational campaign for poultry and livestock growers on the threat and perils of the bird flu virus.

 

Animas said BAI has recently concluded a pilot project with the Japan Trust Fund for the construction of fences as a biosecurity measure.

 

In the event of a suspected outbreak, he said the avian influenza task force has organized a Rapid Action Team that can be mobilized and deployed within 24 hours and to take the appropriate measures.

 

Catbagan said that under the AIPP, the bureau will also set up expanded preparedness and response plans at the provincial, municipal and city levels, which would involve creating local task forces, conducting a checklist of AI preparedness measures, drawing up emergency response plans and encouraging local government units to pass ordinances to help address possible outbreaks of bird flu.

 

To increase the country's preparedness level against bird flu, he said the AIPP will also cover the training of more military men and volunteers to adequately and effectively respond to possible outbreaks.

 

The BAI will also intensify measures on compartmentalization and zoning to include the widening of the areas covered by disease surveillance, he said.

 

Catbagan said the Bureau will likewise intensify its ongoing information and education campaign in 20 critical areas prone to AI infection, international borders and coastlines and in areas with high concentrations of ducks.