Q FEVER. Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. says they will conduct a study to verify if Q fever is endemic in the country during an ambush interview on Tuesday (July 23, 2024). He said a team has already been deployed in the United States to further investigate the initial Q fever infection among imported goats from the US. (PNA photo by Ben Briones)
MANILA – Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Tuesday said they will conduct a study to verify if Q fever is endemic in the Philippines following the country’s first Q fever cases among imported goats from the United States last month.
“Mukhang endemic na dito sa atin (It looks like it’s endemic here). But further research into that issue, it means it's not that, hindi naman ganun karami or ang apektado (there not that many affected cases),” he said in an ambush interview at the sidelines of the post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) discussions at Hilton Manila.
Initial cases were earlier reported in “secluded farms” in Pampanga and Marinduque, wherein 19 samples tested positive, followed by the condemnation of all 94 imported goats.
The DA chief said he has deployed a team in the US to conduct further investigation after initial records showed that the imported goats have negative results for Q fever before exportation to the Philippines.
Laurel, however, assured that it was not yet widespread considering the results of subsequent testing.
“So far naman sa mga pagti-test namin sa mga ibang lugar, wala eh. Wala pa siya. Mukhang isolated incident. Pero mukhang meron na talaga dito matagal na (in our testing in other areas, there’s none. There’s none yet. It looks like an isolated incident. But it seems like it has been here for long),” he said.
The DA chief further said affected farmers are “okay” and those who experienced fever were treated with “simple antibiotics.”
Q fever is a zoonotic disease that is transmissible to humans through contact with infected animals or their body fluids.
“Limited areas lang at mukhang madaling gamutin (and it looks like it’s easy to treat) with the available medicines we have in the Philippines,” Laurel said. (PNA)
