Manila: Two workers in farms that were hit by flu virus in central Luzon starting April have been isolated after showing flu — like symptoms, health officials said.
“One has been coughing and the other has a fever. They have been isolated in a hospital for close monitoring. Results of tests conducted on them will be released Wednesday,” said Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said on Tuesday.
Earlier, Health Secretary Roselyn Ubial said only those who are exposed to the farms and fowls in San Luis are being monitored for cases of chicken-to-human transmission of bird flu virus.
Twelve quarantine stations have been set up in affected areas. It will take 90 days for them to be declared free of bird flu, Ubial said, adding that flu vaccines could not protect humans against the bird flu virus, but could guard against flu mutation once a person was infected of bird flu.
A series of test has confirmed that H5 avian influenza, not the H7 bird flu strain, hit the farms in San Carlos and Sta Rita villages, of San Luis town, Pampanga. There has been no animal-to-human transmission of the disease yet, confirmed Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol.
The agriculture department began culling chickens, ducks, game fowl, and quail through carbon dioxide suffocation, in San Carlos and Sta. Rita villages, San Luis town on Saturday. A total of 400,000 birds would be culled, Piñol estimated.
Policemen and agriculture authorities have also imposed checks on all exit and entry points in 12 towns in Pampanga provinces. The transport of poultry products from five villages in three towns of Pampanga such as Mexico, San Luis, Sta. Ana has been strictly prohibited.
The agriculture department is also investigating the source of the disease — whether it was brought by migratory birds or by ducks smuggled from China.
Governor Lilia Pineda has placed the entire Pampanga province under a state of calamity following the outbreak of avian flu. This could mean P2 billion (Dh166 million) loss for the poultry sector, but poultry owners affected by the bird flu virus will be compensated, she added.
Pampanga is one of the major sources of poultry products sold in Metro Manila and Central Luzon.
A report on the country’s bird flu outbreak will be submitted to the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health.
A poultry owner reported the deaths of at least 15,000 quail birds in San Carlos village in April and May. The disease has killed a total of 37.000 fowls since April.
Bird flu viruses have spread in Europe and Africa in recent months. The H7N9 strain has led to transmission to human cases, including fatalities, in China.
