Regional Livestock Division Chief Rafael Mercado said this disease is caused by a protozoan agent or the blood sucking flies. It is considered as economically important disease because it can compromise the growth of the livestock industry and could bring in tremendous economic losses.
He said that despite continuous monitoring and studies on Surra, there is an apparent need to study insect vectors that are responsible for its transmission to identify insect vectors that are responsible for the transmission of this disease in large animals in Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley. He added that this study will be used as a tool to complement the current methods and approach to Surra control.
NZI trap is a simple, safe and economical cloth trap to capture of biting flies like tse-tse flies, horse flies, deer flies, stable flies. It was developed in Kenya as an environment-friendly alternative to the use of insecticides. It is a passive killing device that works through the attraction of flies to large blue and black objects. Flies simply die from exposure after entering into an innovative configuration of cloth and netting. The materials used for the NZI traps are Oxford fabrics, UV-treated net, and nylon monoline.
Mercado said this study is funded by Food Agriculture Organization in collaboration between the Department of Agriculture, University of Southern Mindanao, Central Mindanao University, and Provincial Veterinary Offices of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley.
Each trap is being monitored by livestock technicians of the LGUs, and the flies collected every week for tallying and identification by entomologists of CMU College of Veterinary Medicine.
The study will end on the last week of February, 2012, Mercado concluded.