ILOILO City – The number of confirmed African Swine Fever (ASF) cases in Iloilo province has reached 366 more than a month since its first confirmed cases were logged in Oton town.
According to Dr. Darel Tabuada, Iloilo provincial veterinarian, these laboratory-confirmed ASF cases were logged in six Iloilo towns, with the latest three cases from New Lucena.
The most number of ASF positive cases so far were in Oton with 206, followed by San Miguel with 42, Leganes with 10, Alimodian and New Lucena with three each, and Santa Barbara with two.
From these six towns, 45 barangays are affected by ASF: 31 in Oton, six in San Miguel, four in Leganes, two in Lucena, and one each in Alimodian and Santa Barbara.
These barangays are the following:
* Oton – Bita Norte, Caboloan Norte, Caboloan Sur, Sta. Monica, Bita Sur, Abilay Norte, Galang, Tagbak Norte, Buray, Sta. Rita, San Antonio, Poblacion South, Pakiad, Poblacion West, Mambog, Batuan Ilaya, Sta. Clara, Sambaludan, Calamaisan, Cadinglian, Salngan, Batuan Ilaud, Botong, Poblacion East, Trapiche, Tuburan, Tagbak Sur, Rizal, Abilay Sur, Pulo Maestra Vita, and Lambuyao;
* San Miguel – San Jose, Poblacion (Barangay 15), Barangay 14, Sta. Cruz, Igtambo, and Sta. Teresa;
* Leganes – MV Hechanova, Guinobatan, San Vicente, and Nabitasan;
* New Lucena – Badiang and Guinobatan;
* Santa Barbara – Balabag; and
* Alimodian – Buhay.
Meanwhile, a total of 1,504 hog heads from the aforementioned barangays have been depopulated, affecting 168 farmers.
Tabuada explained that the .5-kilometer radius from the infected backyard hog farm in Barangay Badiang, New Lucena covers a portion of neighboring Barangay Guinobatan and another barangay in Mina town.
The provincial veterinarian said two samples collected from Barangay Badiang on Nov. 15 were positive for ASF while one of the four samples collected in Barangay Guinobatan on Nov. 18 also tested positive.
Surveillance in nearby barangay in Mina is ongoing.
Border checkpoints have also been strengthened in the area to prohibit the entry and exit of hogs and pork products.
Tabuada further disclosed that prior to the detection of the two confirmed ASF cases in Barangay Badiang, there were reported cases in the barangay around a week ago but samples were not collected because the said hogs already died and buried.
Following this, the local ASF taskforce conducted close monitoring and contact tracing wherein they found out there were six hogs that were transferred away from the farm where the first suspected cases were reported.
Eventually, symptoms of ASF manifested in these six hogs and the two samples collected here yielded positive for ASF, Tabuada said./PN
