The Iloilo Provincial Veterinary Office on Friday, Nov. 4, confirmed the presence of African swine fever (ASF) in two barangays from the towns of Leganes and Alimodian after samples tested positive for the virus.
Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada, in a media interview, said the additional cases came from a backyard farm in Barangay MV Hechanova in Leganes where three samples tested positive, and another farm in Barangay Buhay in Alimodian with 21 hogs.
Leganes and Alimodan have brought to four the number of towns in the province that have recorded ASF infection. The other two were Oton and San Miguel.
Tabuada said they have completed the depopulation and have cordoned off the .5-km. radius of the affected area.
All hogs within the .5-km. radius of the affected area will also be depopulated and once cleared, the border control will be expanded to 1 km. for the conduct of surveillance.
Tabuada said they learned of the infection after the respective municipal agriculture offices reported the unexplained death of the hogs in the affected areas.
The official however said the office could not yet declare the towns as “red zone”.
Based on Administrative Order 22 of the Department of Agriculture, only those located within the .5-km. radius of the affected site will be tagged as “red zone” or infected site.
However, should there be positive cases outside of the .5-km. radius, or if the infection spreads to other barangays, that will be the only time the whole town will be declared as a “red zone”.
So far, Leganes and Alimodian will remain as “pink zones”.
Pink zones serve as a buffer, where ASF disease is not present but adjacent to an infected zone, or an area previously infected but the virus has not been detected for at least 90 days.PNA
