Manila - International health, food and agriculture experts on Wednesday began a joint mission to investigate an outbreak of Ebola Reston virus in pigs on Philippine farms, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. WHO noted that it was the first time that the virus has been found outside monkeys and the first time ever world-wide that it has been found in pigs, a food-producing animal.
It stressed that the importance of the mission "considering the potential implications for animal and human health and welfare."
Ebola Reston is one of five species of the Ebola virus. It can infect humans but without causing serious illness or death, unlike the Zaire, Bundibugyo and Sudan strains, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Ebola Reston strain was discovered in the United States in 1989 in association with an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever among monkeys imported from the Philippines to Reston, Virginia. The virus was found among Philippine monkeys in the US again in 1990 and 1996.
The joint mission of the FAO, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the WHO will last for 10 days.
The team - composed of epidemiologists, laboratory specialists, veterinarians, food safety and public health and risk communication experts - arrived in Manila on Tuesday and started field work on Wednesday.
WHO said the mission aims "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."
"This work will be only the start of a lengthy process to address these issues," it added in a statement.
The Ebola Reston virus was found in dozens of pigs in farms in the northern provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan last October. The Philippine government announced the outbreak in December after tests confirmed the infection.
Authorities said people who had close contacts with the contaminated pigs were tested and found to be negative for infection of the virus. Checkpoints were also set up to prevent the transport and sale of the contaminated hogs.
