Hog disease spreads to 20 Pampanga, Bulacan towns

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – As the scare over Influenza A(H1N1) – formerly called swine flu – sweeps Central Luzon following confirmed cases in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, another viral disease directly affecting pigs has spread to 15 towns in this province and five others in Bulacan.

Reports said the hog disease, called the porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome (PRRS) has already killed 760 pigs in Pampanga alone.

According to a report furnished The STAR by Dr. Augusto Baluyut, Pampanga provincial veterinarian, said only the towns of Floridablanca, Mabalacat, Magalang, Macabebe, and Masantol, out of the province’s 21 towns, have been spared from the swine ailment.

For her part, Dr. Ma. Gloria Carillo, Bulacan provincial veterinarian, said the PRRS has reached the towns of Calumpit, Guiguinto, Baliwag, Pulilan, and Plaridel.

There were also reports of hog cholera and other “common ailments” affecting pigs in these areas.

Both Baluyut and Carillo said their reports covered mostly backyard hog raisers, as no data were immediately available from commercial hog raisers.

They, however, said commercial hog raisers were unlikely to be seriously affected by PRRS as most of them have enough resources to vaccinate their animals.

Dr. Romeo Manalili, chief veterinarian of the Department of Agriculture in Central Luzon, said swine raisers are awaiting more vaccines from the Bureau of Animal Industry to contain the spread of PRRS.

Baluyut said the disease seemed to have come from Pangasinan and reached Bulacan through its boundary with Pampanga in the Candaba area.

In Pampanga, he said 3,138 pigs were confirmed to have contracted PRRS. Of the number, 760 died, he added.

Baluyut said PRRS could not have spread in Pampanga had his office been informed about it immediately.

“It was first observed in San Simon town last May 1 but it was reported to us only on May 13 or 14,” he recalled.

In Bulacan, Carillo said only six of at least 139 pigs examined tested positive for PRRS, while the others were found to be afflicted with other ailments such as hog cholera.

She described PRRS cases in her province as insignificant.

Carillo and Baluyut both said the situation in their respective provinces is “under control.”

Records show the PRRS costs the US hog industry about $600 million yearly.

The PRRS virus was first isolated in 1991 although the disease was first recognized in the US in the mid-1980s and was called mystery swine disease.

An outbreak of the reproductive form of PRRS can last between one and four months, depending on the farm and the health of the pigs.

However, once it gets to weaning piglets, PRRS can become chronic, resulting in above normal rate of deaths of up to 25 percent and increased risk of other diseases, including E. coli, salmonella and swine flu, veterinarians said.