October 5, 2004

Philippines Adopts Migratory Bird Rules To Deter Bird-Flu
 
In a bid to ensure the Philippines remains free of the bird flu virus, the Department of Agriculture has strengthened measures to handle wild, migratory and pet birds which are potential sources of the disease.
 
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said there was a need to advise on contact with and handling of wild, migratory and pet birds in relation to their role in the transmission of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza infection to domestic poultry and even humans.
 
Among other things, Yap's directive prohibits the capture, handling and sale of migratory and wild birds.
 
He said that any contact of migratory and wild birds with domestic poultry should be prevented to deter any possible transmission of the disease. "If necessary, quarantine them for 30 days," he said.
 
Yap issued the directive, addressed to the department's regional avian flu task forces, veterinary quarantine offices and poultry and livestock farms, following news reports that Malaysian sailors who had contact with dead swallows while patrolling Layang-Layang island in the Spratly chain of islands, later exhibited flu-like symptoms.
 
Spratly, a group of reefs and islands in the South China Sea, is the subject of a territorial dispute between Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.
 
The bird flu virus, which starting sweeping across many Asian countries early this year, has already claimed 31 lives. Experts fear the disease could spawn a human pandemic.