Swine flu alert: Govt to monitor hogs from US, Mexico

MANILA, Philippines The Department of Agriculture (DA) has ordered the monitoring of ports for the entry of hogs from Mexico and the US in the wake of deaths of the animals caused by swine flu. Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap also ordered the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to encourage farmers to have their pigs regularly vaccinated against swine flu. According to Yap, no information has linked swine farms to the current human cases of swine flu in Mexico and the US, and there is no outbreak of the disease in the Philippines. But he ordered the monitoring as a precautionary measure. "I have ordered the BAI to strengthen the monitoring of all the ports of entry to prevent the entry of any hogs/pork from Mexico and the US," he said in a statement posted on the Office of the Press Secretary Web site (www.news.ops.gov.ph). "I've also ordered the BAI to lift the restriction in the use of SI [swine influenza] vaccine and encourage farmers to regularly vaccinate their pigs against SI as the vaccine will be readily available," he added. According to earlier reports, a unique strain of swine flu is the suspected killer of dozens of people in Mexico, prompting authorities to close schools, museums, libraries, and theaters in the capital on Friday. The reports also said the new virus also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths in the US. - GMANews.TV