Experts from UN, OIE investigate Ebola Reston in Manila conference. ( 09/01/30 ) | |||||
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Part | Charger | doctorysu | date | 09/01/30 | |
EXPERTS from the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have arrived in Manila to conduct a 10-day scientific study on the
Ebola Reston virus (ERV) which resurfaced in hogs in Central Luzon in the third quarter of last year.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the results of the study will be used by the Philippine government to craft a
national surveillance, control and eradication programs for combating Ebola Reston.
“The [preliminary] results will enable the planning of further investigations as we move forward with more joint
research with our local and international partners,” FAO’s Juan Lubroth said in a press briefing held in Quezon City on Wednesday.
Lubroth said it would take more than 10 days to determine the origins of the virus and its other characteristics.
While the WHO has already classified the Reston virus as a “predominantly animal-health issue” and does not really
affect humans, the DA sought the assistance of the international experts to determine how the virus, which infected
monkeys about a decade ago, has now jumped to hogs.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque revealed that none of those who handled hogs has been infected by the Reston
virus, bolstering the government’s earlier statements that the virus should not alarm consumers.
The epidemiological investigation will involve 8,000 pigs from quarantined farms in Pangasinan and Bulacan.
“Last year the Philippine government requested technical assistance and logistics from the international agencies to
help the country assess the extent of infection of the Ebola Reston virus in the local swine population, as well as its
potential implications to the local pig industry and human health” Duque said.
Lubroth said they will address through laboratory and field investigation, important questions as to the source of the
virus, its transmission, its virulence and its natural habitat.
“We are here to bring the technology, the protocol to the country. We will conduct a research, since the Philippines is
the first country where ERV was detected among swine,” he added.During the 10-day mission, representatives from
FAO, WHO, OIE, DA, Department of Health (DOH) and Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) will be split into two teams, where one will be deploy to Pangasinan and the other one will be dispatched to Bulacan.
“The team will conduct further investigation to assess the risks to exposed animals and humans. The team will also
evaluate our local capacity to deal with ERV and other zoonotic disease, and develop protocols which will guide our
national response to similar occurrence,” Duque said.
He added that they will release the results of the investigation by January 14.
Duque also said that so far there is no recorded “human transmission” of the ERV from swine.
BAI director Divinio Catbagan seconded the statement of Duque where so far all the blood samples collected from the
swine yielded negative results.
Since the virus was found in local pigs last October, the DA and the DOH have been conducting laboratory tests on 129 blood and tissue samples collected from hogs and 18 animal handlers and 12 butchers from affected farms, and
slaughterhouses to detect the presence of the virus.
The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), therefore, reported that all of the sampled have yielded negative
results.
On January 3 a report released regarding the December 27 to 29, 2008, follow-up testing, where they tested 165 samples from two quarantined farms, and none was found positive of the virus.
After the result of RITM, Catbagan said they have lifted the quarantine they enforced on two hog farms.
Catbagan further revealed that the ERV problem has prevented the Philippines from exporting its pork products to
Singapore.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta initially sent about 8,000 reagent kits to the RITM for the ERV testing
and another batch is expected to arrive on January 10.
The increase in pig mortality on swine farms in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in 2007 and 2008 prompted
the government to initiate laboratory investigations.
The WHO reported that there were samples taken from ill pigs in May, June and September 2008 that were sent to
international reference laboratories.
It was 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.
The virus was also found in the country among monkeys during 1989 to 1990, 1992 and 1996.
Ebola viruses are normally transmitted via contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected animal or person.
In all situations, even in the absence of identified risks, meat handling and preparation should be done in a clean
environment (table top, utensils, knives) and meat handlers should follow good personal hygiene practices
(e.g. clean hands, clean protective clothing). In general, hands should be regularly washed while handling raw meat.
Pork from healthy pigs is safe to eat as long as either the fresh meat is cooked properly (i.e. 70°C in all part of the food, so that there is no pink meat and the juices run clear), or, in the case of uncooked processed pork, national safety
standards have been met during production, processing and distribution.
The Ebola virus belongs to the Filoviridae family (filovirus) and is comprised of five distinct species: Zaïre, Sudan,Côte d’Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston. Zaïre, Sudan and Bundibugyo species have been associated with large Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa with high case fatality ratio (25–90%) while Côte d’Ivoire and Reston have not. Reston species can infect humans but no serious illness or death in humans have been reported to date.
2009.1.7
Excerpted from 'Business Mirror'
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