December 21, 2006

Philippines reports no cases of FMD for a year

The Philippine Department of Agriculture yesterday declared the Philippines as free of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) as it reported no FMD outbreaks since January 1 of this year.

According to the Business Mirror Daily, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said it is the first time in ten years that the country has been free of the disease and this has raised hopes for the hog industry to finally export pork products.
           
But before the Philippines could do so, the government would have to first secure certification from the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or the World Animal Health Organisation to declare the Philippines FMD-free.
           
The OIE provides the final declaration that an area or country as FMD-free if it has no outbreak, no evidence of virus infection and no vaccination against FMD during the past 12 months.

The DA said the success of its FMD programme could be attributed to the "progressive zoning approach," through its Task Force FMD programme, which called for the active participation of local government units (LGUs) in controlling and eradicating the disease.

Among the initiatives undertaken by the DA and the Task Force are: documentation of all shipments of FMD-susceptible animals, particularly swine, through a system of accreditation or commercial or breeder farms to make sure that only healthy animals are being shipped out to protected zones in Luzon. A team that checks the operations of slaughterhouses all over the country has also helped containment efforts.      

The task force also undertook testing of serum samples from hogs and implemented a consumer awareness campaign to make consumers aware of the need to choose only clean and safe meat.
                 
The FMD scare reached its peak in the 1990s, prompting the government to initiate a programme to control and wipe out the disease.