Following initial monitoring and the samples taken from some poultry farms, the Head of the City Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) has reported that Davao City remains free from avian influenza (avian flu) or bird flu.
“Based sa amoang monitoring wala sa pagkakaron, naa man pud ubay-ubay na farms nga gikuhaan nato og samples, ang result for this is negative man pud (Based on our monitoring and from the samples from some farms within the city and the results are negative),” Dr. Cerelyn Pinili, the Head of the CVO, said in an interview over Davao City Disaster Radio on Wednesday.
Pinili said that her office focused its surveillance in Talomo and Tugbok areas where the concentration of commercial poultry farms are located.
She added that the entry of poultry from avian flu hit areas in Luzon to Mindanao is currently banned. Also, strict measures are in place for entry of poultry products from Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat – the nearest avian flu hit area to the city.
Pinili added that more checkpoints have been placed at entry points from North Cotabato to Davao City and Buda and Marilog areas, including in Arakan – Dalaglumot, Marilog boundary.
“Naa man gud lutsanan ang North Cotabato sa Marilog, so nagbutang ta og checkpoint sa Arakan and kadtong sa Dalaglumot Marilog, and Arakan boundary pud og kadtong sa Magsaysay Marilog. So additional checkpoint nato na para ma-monitor gyud nato ang kadtong musulod na live birds sa Davao City. Ginatan-aw man gud nato kung kumpleto ang documentary requirements nila (There are other areas connecting North Cotabato and Marilog so we placed a checkpont between Arakan and Dalaglumot, Marilog, also in the Arakan boundary and Magsaysay, Marilog. These are additional checkpoints to monitor the entry of live birds in Davao City. We check if they have complete documentary requirements),” Pinili said.
Pinili said that a Memorandum Circular was already issued by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ban the entry of poultry from avian flu-affected areas in Luzon to Mindanao for 30 days.
She added that the entry of poultry from regions free from avian flu is allowed provided that the documentary requirements are complied.
Also, Pinili reported that there is no poultry to human case recorded in the city even in the avian flu hit areas.
“Sa karon bird to bird, poultry to poultry. Naa ta sa stage two so ang infection karon is bird to bird also. Wala ta’y na record na gikan sa bird to human (For now it is only a bird to bird, poultry to poultry. We are in stage two, so the infection is a bird to bird. We have not recorded from bird to human transmission),” Pinili said.
According to Pinili, avian flu can affect not only commercial poultry but also fowl such as game fowls, broilers, pigeons, quails, turkey, ducks, and migratory birds.
Although there is no bird migration in Davao City, CVO still monitors migratory birds as a precautionary measure amid the avian flu outbreak in other areas. Migratory birds can be found in Davao del Norte like in Carmen town. CIO
