BICOL REGION IS FREE OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

News Release

SORSOGON PROVINCE (August 24) – Three zones in the Philippines including the Bicol region were finally certified by the Organization Mondiale de la Sante Animale (World Organization for Animal Health) as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Free Zones Areas.

This was bared by Sorsogon Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Enrique Espiritu following receipt of certification corroborating the declaration of the World Organization for Animal Health that ten areas in the Philippines are finally free of FMD.

These areas, all in Luzon, are Cordillera, Region I, Region II and Mindoro (Zone 1), Calabarzon, Region III, National Capital Region (NCR) and Pangasinan (Zone 2), and the regions of Bicol and Mimaropa (Zone 3).

Espiritu said that the certification states that following a recommendation of the Office International Des Epizootes (OIE) Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases, the World Assembly of Delegates of the OIE approved on May 25, 2010 that three zones designated by the delegates of the Philippines in the documentation submitted to the OIE headquarters on December 4, 2009 are recognized by the OIE as free from Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).

“In addition, the organization also certified that vaccination in these areas is no longer practiced in accordance with the provisions of Article 8.5.4 of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code,” Espiritu said.

He also bared that the recognition is likewise based on the documentation submitted to the OIE by the Official Veterinary Services of the Philippines.

“Though granted of the certification, the Delegate of Philippines to the OIE has still the obligation to notify the OIE immediately of any significant epidemiological event relating to FMD in Philippines and to confirm annually that the epidemiological situation has remained unchanged, according to the requirements set by the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code,” he added.

In this province, it can be recalled that in December 22, 1999, Sorsogon Governor Raul Lee issued a memorandum banning the selling/shipment of FMD susceptible animals from Irosin town after a case has been recorded here.

However, subsequent to the laboratory findings of the Philippine Animal Health Center and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI-DA) declaring that no new FMD case was recorded from December 31, 1999 in the said town and the rest of the towns across the province, the governor immediately lifted said ban on May 9, 2000. (Bennie A. Recebido, PIA Sorsogon)