ILOILO CITY – The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Western Visayas is waiting on the main statement of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) stating Roxas City, the capital of Capiz province, as bird flu-free.
“We are thankful that it did not spread. We are just waiting for the official declaration,” said Engr. Jose Albert Barrogo, OIC-regional executive director of the DA Western Visayas Field Unit, in an interview on Monday.
Barrogo included that the test arises from the monitoring they performed from December 2022 to February 2023 were all unfavorable.
The monitoring was performed after the very first favorable case was tape-recorded in Barangay Cagay in Roxas City last December.
“We closed the infected farm and had it disinfected. We depopulated within the one kilometer radius,” he said.
He included that samples were likewise drawn from within the one-kilometer radius, which broadened to 7 kilometers and the outcomes were all unfavorable.
Five samples from a remote farm in the Barangay Cagay were the very first documented cases of the Influenza Virus Type A (IVA) subtype H5N1 in Roxas City.
The H5N1 infection is extremely infectious amongst birds and can be lethal, specifically for domestic poultry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (PNA)
