A mobile biocontainment laboratory, developed by BioAssets Corporation, is designed to support rapid response to potential outbreaks and improve disease surveillance, enabling farmers to diagnose the disease on-site.
DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum, Jr. said the interventions demonstrated how science, technology and innovation can offer "holistic solutions to pressing animal health challenges" impacting food security.
However, Fermin Diaz, editor of the online magazine Livestock and Meat Business, told SciDev.Net: "The way I look at it, it seems that these new tools are just palliatives … so that the DOST can say that they are addressing the matter.
"Those kits have very minimal contribution to the overall diagnostic aspect of disease management."
African Swine Fever is a highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs, with mortality rates as high as 100%. It has caused huge economic losses and disruption to the pork supply chain, threatening food security across the region.
If left unchecked, there is a risk that the virus could mutate, potentially making it more transmissible or virulent.
The Philippine government, with the assistance of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has adopted a three-pronged strategy to combat the virus in the last year, focused on prevention, control and vaccination.
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