The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the avian influenza (AI) A(H5N6) outbreak in Jaen, Nueva Ecija four months ago has been managed, controlled and contained.
The outbreak is the latest to be reported since the last reported case in 2017.
The agency, through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) reported to the World Organization for Animal Health it has not detected any cases of the disease in poultry farms in the vicinity of the index of affected farm in Jaen in the last 90 days after cleaning and disinfection procedures.
BAI director Ronnie Domingo said upon confirmation of the incident on March 13, the DA in tandem with the farm owner, local officials and veterinarians immediately stamped out the affected farm, properly disposed off all birds and undertook thorough cleaning and disinfection procedures.
A series of surveillance activities were also undertaken to determine the extent of infection and capture unreported cases around the one kilometer (km) and 7-km radius. Quarantine checkpoints were also set up to restrict movement and trade of all poultry animals and to ensure the disease has not progressed.
“All laboratory tests yielded negative results for both quarantine and surveillance zones.
Early reporting and early multi-agency response provided effective closure of the Nueva Ecija avian flu incident,” Domingo said.
But he clarified the Philippines cannot be declared bird-flu free.
“We are still conducting bird flu surveillance in other provinces. We need to wait for the completion of these field investigations… At the moment we tell poultry farmers and industry stakeholders we have just completed our AI surveillance in other high risk provinces. Lab samples are still being processed,” he explained.
