The provinces of Aurora and Quezon are the latest areas to be declared free of bird flu or avian influenza, marking another step toward the government’s battle against this animal disease.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Quezon recorded two confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 in Candelaria town affecting ducks and quails on April 4 and April 13 this year. On the other hand, Aurora reported a case of H5N1 in Maria Aurora town affecting chicken layers on Oct. 26, 2022.
“More than 90 days have elapsed since the end of the cleaning and disinfection operations and that surveillance activities yielded negative [avian influenza] test results,” the DA said on Wednesday.
“Continued disease monitoring and surveillance in the 1-km (kilometer) and 7-km surveillance zones surrounding the affected farms yielded negative test results for influenza type A virus,” it added.
The provincial governments of Aurora and Quezon, in coordination with the DA regional office in Central Luzon and the Bureau of Animal Industry, conducted disease investigation, immediate depopulation, cleaning and disinfection, movement restrictions and surveillance in the affected areas.
According to the World Organization for Animal Health, a previously free country or zone may regain its avian influenza-free status at least 28 days after completing a stamping-out policy and disinfecting the last affected establishment, and that ensuing surveillance demonstrated the absence of infection.
During the National Sectoral Committee on Poultry and Livestock’s special meeting held early this month, Generoso Rene Romo Jr. of the Philippine College of Poultry Practitioners said the Philippines was grappling with H5N1 and H5N8 substrains, noting that mutations were possible as a side effect of using nonaccredited vaccines.