November 18, 2024

Antique province, Philippines aims for ASF-free status before year-end

The Provincial Veterinary (ProVet) Office of Antique province, Philippines is working to achieve African swine fever (ASF)-free status by the end of 2024.

Dr Marco Rafael Ardamil, chief of ProVet's Public Health Division, shared in an interview that progress has been made in three of the four towns previously classified as ASF red or infected zones. These towns have now been reclassified as pink or buffer zones.

The latest to make this transition is the town of Hamtic, following similar reclassifications for the capital town in July and Sibalom in August. "Only on October 31, the Municipality of Hamtic had been reclassified into the pink zone," Ardamil said, noting that the last recorded ASF case in Hamtic occurred on October 19, 2023.

Efforts are now underway in the Municipality of Belison, which has applied for reclassification. Blood samples will be collected from 10 swine farms in the area to determine if the swine are ASF-free. "The negative results of the collected blood samples from the swine in the hog farms are necessary so Belison could be reclassified," Ardamil explained.

In the meantime, preparations for sentinelling are being made in the capital town. Sentinelling is a method used to verify if swine farms are ASF-free after the application of biosecurity measures, including the use of disinfectants and environmental swab tests.

"There will be 129 farms that will be provided with an initial one piglet each for sentinelling after the environmental swab test next week," Ardamil said. If the process proves successful, each hog farm will eventually receive a total of three piglets.

The Provincial Veterinary Office remains optimistic that these measures will pave the way for Antique to achieve ASF-free status, contributing to the recovery of its swine industry.

-      Philippine News Agency