A random blood collection undertaken on feverish pigs in the capital town of Virac has yielded negative results for the presence of the dreaded African Swine Fever (ASF) virus.
This was disclosed by an official from the Municipal Agriculture Office of the local government unit of Virac following unconfirmed reports of the alleged resurgence of ASF in Catanduanes.
Denying the unsubstantiated rumors, the official said the feverish condition of some local hogs is caused by swine influenza due to the abrupt change in the weather conditions.
The diagnosis was confirmed after the use of ASF rapid test kits on the blood samples led to negative findings.
Swine influenza in pigs causes fever, lethargy, discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, coughing, difficulty breathing, eye redness or inflammation, and decreased appetite, with the infection causing miscarriage in some cases.
Mortality is usually low at around 1 to 4 percent and some infected pigs may not exhibit any symptoms at all. The swine flu virus is common throughout pig populations throughout the world.
However, the virus can cause weight loss and poor growth, which in turn inflicts economic loss on hog raisers as affected animals can lose up to 12 pounds of body weight over a period of three to four weeks.
This latest scare comes six months after a piglet in Pandan town tested positive for ASF in June 2024.
The piglet, a two-month-old that allegedly came from Caramoran, first tested positive through a rapid antigen test conducted by the Provincial Veterinary Office, a result that was confirmed by an RT-PCR Test at the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory of the Department of Health Regional Office V.
While the infected piglet was treated as an isolated case, PVO and municipal agriculture offices began active surveillance of the deadly disease through blood collection and testing in Pandan and other municipalities for early detection, early containment and control.
It may be recalled that ASF was first detected in the last quarter of 2020, with 40 hogs dead from the disease or depopulated at the Catanduanes State University and nearby Danicop.
It then spread to nine other towns, with only Bagamanoc spared of the mass slaughter of pigs after blood samples taken from suspected ASF cases tested negative at the RADDL.
By the end of February 2021, a total of 1,870 sick and healthy pigs were depopulated, PVO records show, with the bulk coming from Bato (434), San Andres (377) and Virac (276).
By March 2021, the ASF outbreak caused a 61-percent decline in the island’s swine population that dropped to just 6,224 from the 2020 census of 16,065 heads.
By mid-2023, however, six towns in Catanduanes have been officially declared free of African Swine Fever (ASF), with the other five towns following later.
Based on the Region V ASF Zoning Approach Map as of Sept. 12, 2024 prepared by the Department of Agriculture (DA) Regional Field Office 5, Virac, Caramoran and Pandan are still considered as “Infected Zones,” with the other eight towns already declared as “Buffer Zones.”