DA bans importation of birds, poultry from Germany for now

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has temporarily banned the entry of domestic and wild birds, along with poultry products from Germany following official confirmation by animal health authorities of the occurrence of the avian influenza (AI) or bird flu virus in that country.

This latest ban covers all “domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks, eggs and semen.”

In Memorandum Order 21, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the ban and other emergency measures are necessary to protect human health and the P60-billion poultry industry in the Philippines which has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus struck Asia five years ago.

The Philippines along with Brunei and Singapore are the only AI-free countries in Southeast Asia.

Yap issued the ban after the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or the World Animal Health Organization confirmed that low pathogenic AI has been detected in Markersdorf, Sachsen in Germany.

The OIE based its declaration on the report submitted by the Federal Ministry of Food and Consumer Protection to the OIE.

Yap directed quarantine officers and inspectors of the DA at all major airports and seaports to stop and confiscate all shipments of live birds, poultry and poultry products into the country originating from Germany.

He also ordered the immediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of veterinary quarantine clearances (VQC) to all imports covering these products from the banned areas.

Besides Germany, the Philippines has also banned imports of poultry bird and all its products from the United Kingdom, Haiti, the US state of Arkansas, Denmark, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Poland and the western African country of Benin to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines.

As of end-October this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 245 out of 387 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with the AI virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus broke out in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In the nearby Asian country of Indonesia, out of the 137 cases confirmed to date, 112 have been fatal, according to the same WHO data.

Elsewhere in the region, Vietnam was reported to have 52 AI-related deaths; China, 20; and Thailand, 17.

From January to June this year, the DA collected a total of 2,483 serum samples and 497 cloacal swabs from native and game fowls, chickens, ducks and other avian species from 13 regions, 34 provinces, 57 municipalities, six cities and 110 barangays, which all yielded negative results on the presence of the AI virus.

Through its Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP), the DA has so far established 577 AI influenza protection task forces and finalized 380 preparedness and response plans at the municipal level.

The DA has also been conducting community-based workshops and other training programs with the assistance of foreign institutions to raise public awareness on the dangers of the AI virus and measures to keep the Philippines bird flu-free.

The government has also been upgrading facilities at the Philippine Animal Health Center (PAHC) and four other AI laboratories in Central Luzon, Central Visayas, Zamboanga Region and Northern Mindanao, procuring personal protective equipment and strengthening its border and quarantine control procedures.