PH lifts ban on US goats importation

The Philippines has lifted the temporary ban on the importation of goats from the United States nearly four months after it prohibited the entry of the farm animal from America due to detection of Q fever.

In his Memorandum Order No. 43, series of 2024, issued on October 8, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. directed to lift the ban issued in June.

With this, Tiu Laurel said that “all import transactions of the above commodity shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the DA.”

The prohibition on the entry of live goats from the US was ordered due to positive detection of human-transmissible Q fever on imported goats.

Following the detection, the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) culled over five dozens of goats from the US.

However, in his latest memorandum order, Tiu Laurel noted that “there has been no reported case of Q fever in the United States of America,” citing a report from the World Organization for Animal Health on Animal Disease Events, World Animal Health Information System 2024.

The Agriculture chief said that stringent measures have been implemented by the DA-BAI to prevent the spread of infectious diseases to safeguard public health.

“The DA has been strengthening its pre-border measures to ensure that the risk of disease transmission from importation of live animals is negligible,” Tiu Laurel said.

The Department of Health earlier said Q fever is transmissible to humans, especially among farmers and animal handlers who are in frequent contact with infected animals. However, cases of human to human transmission can be considered rare.

Symptoms of the disease in humans surface two to three weeks after exposure and are commonly non-specific and mild, the DOH said. These symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, cough, nausea, and vomiting.

Q fever can be cured through antibiotics, the Health Department added. To prevent infection, the DOH advised the public to avoid contact with animals suspected to have Q fever. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News