Results of blood testing on local fowl due today

The Bureau of Animal Industry is set to release today the results of the blood test administered on domestic fowl taken from three barangays in Cebu City and in Olango Island, Lapu-Lapu City.

Leonilo Resontoc, head of the surveillance team Avian Influenza Task Force of BAI said the test was completed yesterday and the results will be released today.

The test was done to determine the presence or absence of the bird flu virus among domestic fowl.

Last week, a team from the Department of Veterinary, Medicine and Fisheries of Cebu City took blood samples from 90 domestic fowl from barangays San Nicolas, Cogon-Pardo and Mambaling in Cebu City.

Migratory birds are known to be carriers of the virus.

Bird flu is an infection caused by avian influenza viruses. These flu viruses occur naturally among birds. Wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick from them. However, bird flu is very contagious among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them.

The bird flu threat has caused alarm all over the world including Cebu City, which has been declared under a state of preparedness.

The Department of Health and the DVMF and BAI have urged the public especially backyard raisers to report to them immediately if they observed unusual deaths in their domestic fowl. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan