PHILLIPINES — Government officials in the Philippines have asked that a team of health experts investigate laboratory results that detected the first cases of Ebola-Reston virus isolated in swine there.
The investigation was initiated earlier this year in response to higher-than-normal mortality rates among pigs on farms in the Philippine provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in 2007 and 2008. Based on the results, the Philippine government requested a team of experts from the World Organization for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization to further investigate the findings.
After taking samples from sick pigs in the suspected provinces, international laboratories "confirmed in late October that the pigs were infected with a highly virulent strain of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) as well as the Ebola-Reston virus," according to a statement from the F.A.O. Health officials say this is the first time the Ebola-Reston virus has been isolated in swine. The virus was discovered in the Philippines among monkeys in the early and mid 1990s.
After being notified of the situation in late November, officials with the three global health organizations began working closely with the Philippine government to assess the threat of the virus. Lab test results indicate those people thought to have come into contact with the infected pigs have not contracted the virus, which is linked to Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa and can be fatal to humans. While the P.R.R.S. isn’t transmissible to humans, Reston species can infect humans through contact with blood or bodily fluids, but no serious illness or death in humans have been reported.
According to F.A.O.: "The planned joint FAO/OIE/WHO team will work with country counterparts to address, through field and laboratory investigation, important questions as to the source of the virus, its transmission, its virulence and its natural habitat, in order to provide appropriate guidance for animal and human health protection."
Source: MeatPoultry.com