Preparations stepped up: Bird flu tests set in 3 barangays

The City Veterinary Office is set to conduct blood sampling of chickens and other fowls in barangays Inayawan, Mambaling and Pardo to test for the presence or absence of bird flu.

City veterinarian Alice Utlang yesterday said the tests are a precautionary measure owing to the proximity of the three barangays to Ponds A and B of the south reclamation project which has been known to have started drawing visits by migratory birds.

Utlang assuaged public fears by saying the tests she plans to conduct do not mean poultry in the said barangays are suspected of having bird flu but merely that the city just wants to make sure they are free from the disease.

Utlang said she and her team will get blood samples from at least 30 chickens in each of the three barangays mentioned.

The city has formed earlier this month a task force to address the avian flu scare amid mounting global fears of a pandemic.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza spread by the H5N1 virus has already ravaged the poultry populations in large swaths of Asia, specifically in almost all countries of the Southeast Asian region where at least 65 people have already died and tens of millions of birds have been killed or culled.

Right now, H5N1 spreads only from bird to bird and occasionally from bird to human. Experts fear it is only a matter of time before the virus mutates into something that can spread from human to human. When that happens, the experts predict the death toll to be in the millions.

Scientists are now frantically trying to develop a cure and many countries are stocking up on Tamiflu, manufactured by Roche, which is the only known vaccine against bird flu in its present form.

The bird flu task force in Cebu City is composed of Dr. Felicitas Manaloto as action officer, city agriculturist Joey Baclayon, Utlang, Cebu City Medical Center chief Myrna Go, city health officer Fe Cabugao, City Hall public information officer Nagiel Banacia, and representatives from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation.

The task force is empowered to tap the services and resources of the Philippine National Police and the Association of Barangay Councils as the need arises.

Manaloto said the city is right now fine-tuning the city's preparation against bird flu in the event the deadly virus surfaces here.

The task force has already drawn up a proposed memorandum of agreement it seeks to enter with the North General Hospital in Talamban for it to be the facility to handle any human bird fly cases that may be identified.

The proposed memorandum of agreement is expected to be reviewed this Monday by the hospital.

Other hospitals in the city are also being primed for readiness as well.

The city is in the process of equipping the Ceby City Medical Center with the needed equipment to combat bird flu.

Manaloto said the task force is also proposing to the city to stock up on anti-bird flu vaccines.

At the barangay level, barangay captains are encouraged to coordinate with city and city health officials for their own preparations against bird flu.

Basak San Nicolas barangay captain Mario Susaya whose barangay is also near Pond A but has not been mentioned as part of the tests, said he will coordinate with the city government on Monday about the matter.

" We have not received any report so far about these migratory birds but all we can advise people is for them to avoid direct contact with these birds if they see them, " Susaya said.

Mambaling barangay captain Rodolfo Estella said he too is still to coordinate with the city government about the matter.

Utlang said aside from conducting tests, the task force is also monitoring importation of all kinds of birds.

Last week, the task force conducted blood tests on ducks and poultry on Olango Island, a noted destination of migratory birds. The tests have yielded negative results.