Avian pest contained in Ilocos

DAGUPAN CITY—The Newcastle disease virus (NDV) or avian pest that has struck commercial and backyard poultry farms in the Ilocos region has been contained but new cases in Isabela and Quirino provinces could have been linked to the disease, government veterinarians said on Friday.

“There were no additional NDV cases [reported] in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. This problem in the last few weeks has been controlled,” said Dr. Annie Bares, Ilocos animal health coordinator of the Department of Agriculture. The avian pest earlier hit backyard poultry and game cock farms in at least two towns in Ilocos Norte, nine towns and San Fernando City in La Union, and eight towns and cities in Pangasinan.

Bares said the cases in these provinces were “sporadic cases, not massive.”

But the Philippine Animal Health Center (PAHC) had confirmed that it was the NDV which caused the death of chickens in Pangasinan, La Union and Ilocos Norte, according to Dr. Constancia Diaz, chief of the Ilocos animal disease diagnostic laboratory. The PAHC is an attached facility of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

In Isabela and Quirino, veterinarians said 100 fighting cocks have died but they have yet to determine if these were NDV-infected. Veterinarian Solomon Maylem said the game cocks died after being transported from Zambales province to the owner’s yard in Santiago City in Isabela. Gabriel Cardinoza and Villamor Visaya Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon