Mindanaotoday.com | BFAR-10, NFRDI conduct TiLV sampling in Bukidnon, LDN
By: CL Viajante
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region-10’s Regional Fisheries Laboratory Division (BFAR-10-RFLD) accompanied experts from the Department of Agriculture-National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (DA-NFRDI) in its sampling and on-site necropsy for Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) in Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte on June 8-9, 2022.
DA-NFRDI team gathers samples of tilapia specimens in Pulangi Lake, Bukidnon, and in BFAR’s tilapia hatchery situated in Pacita, Lala, Lanao del Norte, which was badly infected last September 2021.
Rey Eduardo Hojas, BFAR 10-RFLD’s officer-in-charge, said that the DA-NFRDI team upskilled BFAR-10’s lab technicians with the most efficient method of collecting and preserving specimens for the TiLV study.
“The technicians salvage the tilapia’s brain, liver, spleen, and kidney for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. And a swab test was also conducted to check to confirm if it’s truly TiLV or just Streptococcus spp.,” elaborated the OIC.
The on-site necropsy is part of the implementation of the NFRDI-funded project, entitled “Development of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) assay for the detection of Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) in Tilapia farms in the Philippines.”
One of the project’s main goals is to collect samples in areas with high tilapia production, cases of high mortalities, and those that previously tested positive on TiLV for molecular detection and the development of a rapid and sensitive diagnostic protocol.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Garcia, officer-in-charge of the Fish Health Laboratory Section, ensured that the TiLV is a fish-to-fish viral infection and is not transmittable to humans.
Further, RFL has intensified its active surveillance on an emerging disease that is affecting the major commodities in the region thus committing to taking immediate action whenever necessary.
Present to assist during the sampling activity were Rommel Lim, District Fisheries Technician, Liberty Lagang, OIC-Lala Fish Health Laboratory, John Roy Obsines, OIC Fisheries Product Testing Laboratory Section, Priscille Dawn Banas, OIC Aquatic Toxicology Laboratory Section, and Jerose Acut, OIC NMBADTC. (CLViajante | NFRDI Philippines | BFAR-10)
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