Muntinlupa sets up quarantine checkpoints

The Muntinlupa City government has set up quarantine checkpoints to protect its residents from bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks.

Mayor Jaime Fresnedi said the quarantine checkpoints limits and rigidly checks papers of all poultry and livestock entering Muntinlupa.

Most of the products brought in the city originate from Calamba, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon provinces.

"Since Christmas is fast approaching, the demand for chicken and pork are continuously increasing so the city is putting up its guard against the entry of chickens or hogs possibly infected with bird flu or FMD," Fresnedi said.

Though the city’s Veterinary and Health Office has confirmed that there is still no bird flu case in the country, city officials want to make sure that residents remain safe from disease.

The city health office likewise informed residents that the transmission of the bird flu virus is from bird to human only. There is reportedly no evidence yet of the illness being transferred from person to person.

"It is also not true that a person can get the virus if he eats the cooked chicken infected with bird flu. The virus will perish in the process of cooking," city health officials said.

Bird flu symptoms include fever, aching body joints and muscles, swelling of throat and coughing. Its complications may lead to pneumonia, respiratory distress syndrome and multi-organ failure.

The country is doing its share to prevent the spread of the bird flu virus by banning the importation of chicken from countries hit by the disease, including North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Russia and Hong Kong.

Locally, poultry owners are also advised to prevent their chickens from having direct contact with wild birds. They should also wash their hands properly after disinfecting their poultry. — Rhodina Villanueva