Philippines to cull fowl after bird flu outbreak
Print Edition
The Philippines will deploy hundreds of troops to hasten a cull of about 600,000 fowl, the farm minister said yesterday, as part of efforts to rein in the Southeast Asian nation’s first outbreak of bird flu.
There has been no case of human transmission after the flu was detected on a farm in the province of Pampanga, about 75 kilometers north of the capital Manila, but it has spread to about 36 other farms and nearly 40,000 birds have died.
“I have asked the Philippine army to provide us with additional warm bodies to help us in depopulating the farms,” Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol told a news conference.
“Six hundred thousand is no mean job. Our personnel are facing a difficult task and we lack people.”
Pinol said the government had about 200 men in the area, but fewer than 20,000 birds had been culled since the outbreak was reported.
Brigadier-General Rodel Mairo Alarcon said at least 300 soldiers would be sent to the province today to assist in the cull of chicken, quail and ducks.
“The Philippines army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines is 100 percent in support of this effort,” Alarcon said.
Soldiers will be given protective gear and doses of a drug, Tamiflu, to guard them against possible infection. Two sick farm workers from the area have tested negative for the virus, the health ministry said.
Although the ministry has yet to identify the specific strain of the virus that hit the Philippines, officials say initial tests have ruled out the highly pathogenic H5N1.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
