ANTIQUE – African Swine Fever (ASF), a highly contagious viral disease of pigs, has spread to six other barangays in Antique’s capital town of San Jose de Buenavista.
Dr. Marco Rafael Ardamil, Public Health Safety Division Chief of the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian, confirmed that the hog disease was recorded in barangays Badiang, San Pedro, Bariri, 1, 2 and 8.
Barangay Bugarot, adjacent to the town of Hamtic – the first in the province to record ASF infections, was the first to record ASF in San Jose de Buenavista.
Ardamil said 19 out of 22 blood samples from these barangays sent to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 6 tested ASF-positive.
As of July 6, the town had over 200 ASF-suspected hog mortalities.
Meanwhile, Hamtic town, where index cases of Antique were recorded, had 30 ASF-affected barangays as of July 2. These are: Pu-ao, Calala, Guintas, Caridad, EBJ, Poblacion 4, Funda, Poblacion 3, Dangcalan, Linaban, Ingwan-Batangan, Budbudan, Piapi I, Vilavert-Jimenez, Piapi II, Poblacion 2, Poblacion 5, Malandog, Bongbongan I-II, Bia-an, Igbical, Poblacion 1, Buhang, Calacja, Bongbongan III, Mapatag, Nalihawan, Asluman, Piai III, and Pili 1, 2, 3.
There were 3,444 hog deaths, which were composed of sows (510), boars (64), fatteners (1,543), and piglets (1,327), all with an estimated market value of P31,554,500.
The towns of San Jose de Buenavista and Hamtic are red zones, while Sibalom, Belison, Tobias Fornier, San Remigio, Valderrama, Bugasong, Sebaste, and Pandan are pink zones.
The towns of Patnongon, Laua-an, Barbaza, Culasi, Anini-y, and Libertad are yellow zones.
While Tibiao is a yellow-green zone, and Caluya is a green zone.
Under the ASF color-coding scheme of the DA administrative order 02-2020, the red (infected) zone includes municipalities or cities with confirmed outbreaks of confirmed ASF cases.
Areas under the pink (buffer) zone include municipalities or cities where ASF is not detected but is demarcated immediately around the red zone when an area has been confirmed as an infected zone.
The pink (buffer) zone aims to prevent and manage spillover cases from the red (infected) zone through risk mitigation measures such as biosecurity and surveillance.
On the other hand, for purposes of protecting and maintaining the ASF-free areas, the other free zones are defined according to risk:
* Yellow (surveillance) zone – includes municipalities or cities where ASF is not detected and adjacent with the pink (buffer) zone. These areas are considered to be high-risk areas, following the risk criteria; and
* Yellow-green (protected) zone – includes municipalities or cities where ASF is not detected and are considered moderate risk areas following the risk criteria.
* Green (free) zones are areas where ASF is not detected and are considered low risk following the risk criteria. (With a report from Radyo Bandera Sweet FM Antique)/PN
