DA notifies WOAH of Philippine’s first Q fever case

MANILA, Philippines — The introduction of “new” live animals has been the cause of the country’s first confirmed case of Q fever, the government said in a report submitted to the World Organization for Animal Health on July 1.

This developed after the Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed that some of the Anglo-Nubian goats imported by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) from the United States tested positive for the disease.

“The ‘event started’ date was when clinical signs were observed in some of the imported goats,” the report said, noting the Q fever infection started on Feb. 13.

On June 19, the DA-BAI conducted confirmatory testing at the Philippine Carabao Center-Biosafety and Environment Laboratory in the Science City of Muñoz in Nueva Ecija.

The DA said it culled 91 heads of goats and cattle in Barangay Napo in Santa Cruz, Marinduque to prevent the spread of Q fever.

Of the depopulated animals, 84 were goats while the rest were cattle.

The report indicated that 19 goats tested positive and three died of the disease.

The government said it conducted disinfection, movement control, quarantine, screening and disposal of carcasses, by-products and waste as well as stamping out programs in the affected barangay.

Surveillance in and outside the restricted zone of the outbreak will continue, the DA said.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Agriculture earlier told The STAR that the goats were free of any disease when they arrived in the Philippines.

Additional Q fever tests conducted by the BAI on imported goats on April 3, wherein some animals tested positive, were beyond the incubation period for the disease, the official said.

“The incubation period for Q fever ranges from two to 48 days. The animals had been in the Philippines for 81 days prior to the testing,” the spokesperson said.