The Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. (ProPork) said the discovery of a new strain of the dreaded swine flu, a descendant of the 2009 strain in China, should not be a “cause for alarm” as meat imports from the East Asian country are banned.
ProPork President Edwin G. Chen told the BusinessMirror that swine flu is a common hog disease in the world and the country does not allow pork imports from China, where the new strain was discovered.
“We do not allow imports from China, so no cause for alarm. Usually, those that have direct contact with live pigs are susceptible,” he said.
“Since this new strain is in China there should be no cause for alarm. Every year deaths due to swine flu in America are very high,” he added.
Foreign media have reported that a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has discovered a new type of swine flu that is capable of becoming a pandemic. The new strain was called G4, which is a descendant of the H1N1 strain that caused the 2009 pandemic.
The study was based on surveillance of hogs in 10 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2018. The researchers also collected 338 blood samples from workers on 15 pig farms and 230 from people in nearby households.
The study, conducted by Chinese and British scientists, revealed that some 10.4 percent of Chinese swine workers were and 4.4 percent of others have tested positive for antibodies to G4, indicating an animal to human transmission.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has urged the public to report any unusual pig mortalities in their farms to ensure swift actions amid threats of fatal animal diseases today.
The DA also assured the public that pork products from China remain banned.
“Reports on flu-like symptoms have been increasing this rainy season and this could affect both agricultural workers and our swine production,” it said in a recent statement.
“News regarding the new type of swine flu has been circulating online causing worries to both farm workers and the general public,” it added.
Economist Pablito M. Villegas said the country should step up its efforts in curbing smuggling as it is one of the ways that animal diseases could penetrate the country, such as the entry of the African Swine Fever (ASF) in the Philippines.
“It’s a double whammy threat. We are already at this state wherein we have ASF, so we need to be more vigilant in our surveillance and monitoring system,” Villegas told the BusinessMirror.
“This should be scaled up already to a national security threat. It’s not only the DA and the Bureau of Animal Industry that must do its work but also the Navy, the Customs, to prevent smuggling,” he added.
Various animal disease experts, as quoted in foreign news reports, have noted that the new swine flu strain is not an “immediate threat” but countries should remain on the lookout, taking experience from the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Image credits: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg