Friday, February 16, 2007 Lab arms C. Luzon v. bird flu By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- With the establishment of a laboratory that could detect, monitor, and control the spread of avian influenza, Central Luzon is now one step ahead in its fight against the possible pandemic known as bird flu.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday opened the country's first diagnostic facility designed to keep an eye on bird flu and other animal-borne diseases in the high-risk area of Central Luzon and its neighboring areas.
Inaugurated by DA Secretary Arthur Yap, the fully equipped Regional Avian Influenza Diagnostic Laboratory (RAIDL) is in line with the government efforts to keep the Philippines free from bird flu that has so far killed 164 people and millions of chicken across the globe.
Yap said the facility would not only help keep the government's food security goals on track but would also secure the livelihood of small farmers and growers by ensuring that the country's poultry industry remains protected from the dreaded virus.
"The Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei remain the only countries in Southeast Asia that have been entirely free from the avian flu virus," Yap said.
"In order to maintain this enviable status, the establishment of a diagnostic facility, such as this one, is necessary to ensure the proper and systematic detection, surveillance and control of animal-borne diseases like bird flu," he said.
The RAIDL showcases DA's avian influenza protection program that was made possible by a US$340,000 grant from the New Zealand Aid and Development Agency (NZADA) and a US$50,000 counterpart funding from the Philippine government.
New Zealand Ambassador David Pine accompanied Yap and DA Undersecretary Clayton Olalia in the inauguration of the facility which is now house the former Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) building at the Provincial Capitol compound.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provided technical assistance to the project, which is being implemented by the BAI.
BAI Director Davinio Catbagan and Kazuyuki Tsurumi, the FAO representative to the Philippines, also attended the ceremonies.
High-risk areas
Yap said Pampanga was chosen as the pilot site for this anti-avian influenza project because Central Luzon is one of the high-risk areas for avian influenza, given the large concentrations of both commercial and backyard poultry and transient migratory birds in the region.
Bulacan and Pampanga, being the major tributaries of the Candaba Swamp, were the main focus of the field surveillance, training and conduct of avian influenza related studies conducted by the DA. The swamp is recognized as a high-risk area because of the possible close interaction of domestic poultry with the wild birds.
The RAIDL, which has the capacity to conduct rapid tests to determine the presence of avian influenza in birds, complies with international standards in containing and handling infective microorganisms with moderate individual risk and low-community risk.
Since September 2006, experts of the DA Avian Flu Protection Program have collected 6,115 samples in 146 municipalities in the high-risk areas of Pampanga, Bulacan (2,299 samples), Tarlac (175 samples), and Aurora (180 samples). Samples will also be collected in 45 selected barangays of Bataan, Zambales and Nueva Ecija.
Surveillance in high-risk areas will be conducted every six months.
The DA Avian Influenza Protection Program study aims to, among others, assess the possible risks of bird flu to animals and humans in the country through a live bird market study and documentation of bird selling, transporting practices and sourcing of live birds in high-risk areas.
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 164 out of 270 people infected with avian influenza have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 1993 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
WHO experts have expressed concern that every additional human infection gives the virus a greater opportunity to mutate into a deadlier strain that will make it easier for avian influenza to jump from fowls to humans and then from person to person, leading to a pandemic that could kill millions of people.
