Bikol Is Certified FMD-Free

SORSOGON CITY, Sept. 3 -- Livestock raisers of Bicol have reason to rejoice as the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) has already certified the region as a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD)-free territory.

Sorsogon provincial veterinarian Enrique Espiritu on Friday said he received over the week a copy of the certification issued by the Organization Mondiale de la Sante Animale or WOAH saying 10 Philippine zones including Bicol are finally free of FMD.

These zones include the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), Region I or Ilocos Region; Region II or Cagayan Valley; Mindoro (Zone I); Central Luzon or Region III; the Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (Calabarzon) Area; National Capital Region (NCR); Pangasinan (Zone 2); and the Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan (Mimaropa)-Zone 3, all in Luzon.

Espiritu said that following a recommendation of the Office International Des Epizootes (OIE) Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases to the World Assembly of Delegates of the OIE, the WOAH approved the certification on May 25, 2010.

The OIE's Terrestrial Animal Health Code specifies that a country or zone may be declared free of the disease once no outbreak has been reported in the past 12 months.

Espiritu said the recognition is likewise based on the documentation submitted to the OIE by the Official Veterinary Services of the Philippines.

"Though granted of the certification, the Delegate of Philippines to the OIE has still the obligation to notify the OIE immediately of any significant epidemiological event relating to FMD in Philippines and to confirm annually that the epidemiological situation has remained unchanged, according to the requirements set by the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code," he added.

In Sorsogon province, it can be recalled that in December 22, 1999, Gov. Raul Lee issued a memorandum banning the selling and shipment of FMD susceptible animals from Irosin town after a case has been recorded there.

However, subsequent to the laboratory findings of the Philippine Animal Health Center (PAHC) and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) declaring that no new FMD case was recorded from December 31, 1999 in the said town and the rest of the towns across the province, the governor lifted the ban on May 9, 2000.

FMD virus is one of the vesicular diseases of pigs, cattle and other cloven-footed animals. While it was proven that FMD-infected meat has no harmful effects on humans if consumed, this greatly affects the livestock industry and has its economic impact reminiscent of the 1995 'FMD scare' which caused meat prices to dive in Luzon.

Luzon was declared FMD calamity area on June 15, 1995 by virtue of Executive Order No. 251 issued by then Pres. Fidel Ramos and to prevent the virus from spreading to non-affected provinces, the transport of animals; its unprocessed semen and ova; fresh, frozen or chilled meat; and semi-processed and processed by-products have been banned.

FMD vaccines; dung of chicken, pig and other ruminants; and animal effects or hay, straw, forage or similar materials used as feeds and bedding materials of FMD susceptible animals were also prohibited from being transported.

Following the discovery of FMD in a slaughter plant in Baguio City in February 2005 where 28 pigs reportedly died, the last case of FMD outbreak was reported in Lucban, Quezon on December 2005.

FMD is a highly contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals including cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. It causes high fever and characteristic lesions in animals' mouths and feet but even though humans are not affected "even one small outbreak in a previously FMD-free country can cause millions of dollars of losses as global markets close and disease control measures are enforced," according to Espiritu. (PNA)