UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE, PORCINE - PHILIPPINES (05): (MINDANAO), REQUEST
FOR INFORMATION
Date: Fri 13 Mar 2009
Source: Business Mirror [edited]
<http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/regions/7413-zamboanga-pigs-die-of-swine-flu-virus.html>
Zamboanga pigs die of swine-flu virus
The death of a dozen pigs last week [2-6 Mar 2008] in barangay
Vitali, 72 km [44.7 miles] east of Zamboanga City, was caused by
mainly swine flu [see comment] and not the Ebola Reston virus as
earlier feared by people in the city. This was the finding of a team
of experts from the Department of Agriculture (DA), city veterinarian
and city health offices that went to Vitali and conducted an on-site
investigation.
Apart from swine flu, other possible causes of the death were Porcine
Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, Classical Swine Fever,
Actinobacillus Pleuropneumoniae, Salmonellosis Enzootic [?] and Heat
Stroke, said Dr. Mario Ariola, chief of the city veterinary office.
DA regional director Oscar Parawan and veterinarian Dr. Marie France
Jalao, of the DA regional office that was part of the team,
corroborated Ariola's pronouncement. Parawan said swine flu is a
common disease in hogs that requires proper medication to prevent
complications from bacteria that lead to the death of the pigs. He
said they also discovered that water in Vitali where the pigs died
contains E. coli that can complicate infection when mixed with food
eaten by hogs.
City health officer Dr. Rodel Agbulos also disclosed that the
5-year-old child who died at same time as the pigs suffered severe
dehydration caused by infectious diarrhea, and not from eating pork
infected by the virus as earlier feared by people in the city. The
team also found out that the owner of the swine that died had sold
the meat to the community and this caused diarrhea and other symptoms
of one family and eventually led to the death of one child.
Agbulos said other findings showed that the water source of the
family has high E. coli content that might have also led to diarrhea
and severe dehydration. Ariola said the pigs that died belong to 3
households. The pigs were not vaccinated [against what? - Mod.AS] and
consequently exhibited nasal discharges, fever, sudden weakness and
death within 2 days. Of the 12 pigs that died 7 are piglets, and 5
sows of which 3 were pregnant, according to Ariola
The team has come up with recommendations to double-check these
findings since the members have not been able to come up with a
definitive diagnosis. The recommendations include continuous close
monitoring of the situation in the affected areas; collection of
blood and tissue samples of sick pigs; information and education
campaign on swine management; advisory on meat-safety consumption;
and intensified meat-inspection measures.
"We cannot come up with a definitive diagnosis since we were not able
to observe any sick pigs in the visited areas and necropsy was not
performed," Ariola disclosed.
Parawan said they expect to receive any time soon the results of
analysis of blood samples taken from the pigs in Vitali and sent to
Manila for laboratory tests.
[Byline: Bong Garcia Jr.]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The bottom line of the above newswire with a protracted list of
pending DD's (of which influenza is just one of the various
speculated infectious and non-infectious possible diagnoses) is that
at present no diagnosis of the pig mortality in Vitali is available.
In fact, the death of the 5-year-old child remains undiagnosed as
well. In this respect it is worthwhile indicating that consuming pork
from moribund pigs or their cadavers, even if not related to a
suspected or identified infectious pig disease, is highly hazardous
since -- in such animals -- enteric bacteria, including pathogens and
toxin-producing bacteria exit the animal's digestive tract and
penetrate into various tissues, including the muscles ("meat") which
are regarded edible. Pork from non-inspected slaughter may also
harbor dangerous parasites such as Trichinella and Cysticercus.
In peace time, mortality of 5 sows and 7 piglets would not become
nationally distributed news. The media attention is to be attributed
to the public fear of Ebola Reston virus, since its identification in
pigs in Bulacan at the end of 2008. From another source we have noted
that surveillance for the Ebola-Reston virus is going to include
fruit-bats in Philippines.
For the location of Vitali in Mindanao, go to:
<http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=VITALI&countryCode=+#map=7.37741,122.2886194&bd=useful_information&loc=%20:7.37111:122.28861:14VITALIVitali,%20Province%20of%20Zamboanga%20del%20Sur,%20Philippines>
For ProMED-mail's interactive Health map of the Philippines go to:
<http://healthmap.org/r/006t> - Mod.AS]
[In another sensationalist newswire
(<http://www.farminguk.com/news/Philippines-Bird-Flu.13019.asp>),
there was an attempt to draw a connection between the porcine
mortality and the child death. The above newswire seems to support a
theory that the diarrheal illness was coincidental as the household
water source had evidence of fecal coliforms (E. coli) and therefore
could explain a severe diarrheal episode leading to death in a 5 year
old -- a plausible explanation. But, in the absence of more
definitive information, one should be cautious on categorically
classifying this as a death attributable to one of the many diarrheal
etiologies seen in children under 5 years of age in rural areas of
developing countries. More information on the investigations
surrounding this death would be greatly appreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment