THE Philippines lost its bird-flu free status after the government reported its first confirmed outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) Type A subtype H5N1 that killed over 42,000 quails and ducks in four Central Luzon farms.
The Philippines made the formal notification of its first recorded HPAI A(H5N1) outbreaks to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) last February 18, which was made public by the international body on Monday, February 21.
The Philippines’s notification showed that a total of 78,280 quails and ducks were susceptible to the disease, with 98 confirmed cases across four outbreaks in Bulacan and Pampanga.
The notification revealed that HPAI A(H5N1) killed 42,245 birds while the remaining 36,035 birds were “killed and disposed of” by the government as part of its control measures.
The outbreaks were confirmed by the Animal Disease Diagnosis Reference Laboratory (ADDRL) of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the country’s national laboratory, last February 12.
The outbreaks started as early as January 6, 2022 with samples from the suspected farms being tested from January 10 to February 11, based on the Philippines’s notification.
Ongoing outbreaks
The Philippines noted that the outbreaks are still “ongoing,” adding that it will submit weekly follow-up reports regarding the matter.
The Philippines noted that the source or origin of the infection remains “unknown or inconclusive” as of its February 18 reporting to the OIE.
The government has undertaken various domestic control address the outbreaks that included disinfection, movement control, official disposal of carcasses, by-products and waste, quarantine, screening, stamping out, surveillance outside and within the containment and or the protection zone as well as zoning.
The Philippines noted that it will still apply wild control measures such as surveillance within and outside the containment and or the protection zones.
Four outbreaks
The Philippines’s report showed that the four outbreaks were recorded in one backyard quail farm in Mexico, Pampanga, two commercial quail farms in Candaba, Pampanga, and one commercial duck farm in Baliuag, Bulacan.
About 14,290 quails were susceptible to HPAI A(H5N1) in the identified backyard quail farm in Brgy. San Antonio, Mexico, Pampanga with 4,522 quails dying of the disease while 9,768 were culled by the government.
The Philippine report showed that 47,000 quails were susceptible to the disease in a farm in Brgy. Dalayap, Candaba, Pampanga while another 10,040 quails were susceptible in a commercial farm in Brgy. Mangga, Candaba, Pampanga.
Of the total quail population in the two outbreaks in Candaba, Pampanga, about 37,723 quails died due to the disease while the remaining 19,317 alive quails were culled to contain the spread of bird flu.
The lone outbreak in a commercial duck farm in Brgy. Barangka, Baliuag, Bulacan had a total susceptible duck population of 6,950 with all of them being culled to contain the outbreak.
This is the first official record of the HPAI A(H5N1) outbreak in the Philippines. The previous strains of bird flu outbreaks confirmed by the government, such as those in 2017 and 2020, were HPAI A(H5N6).
The Philippines regained its bird-flu free status last January 8, 2021 after the government successfully addressed and eradicated the resurgence of HPAI A(H5N6) in the country.