DOH: People safe from Ebola

The Department of Health (DOH) declared yesterday that 42 people who had close contact with pigs infected with the Ebola-Reston virus in poultry farms in Bulacan, Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija have tested negative for the disease.

According to DOH chief epidemiologist Dr. Eric Tayag, these individuals served as pig handlers and butchers in the abattoirs where the infected hogs were slaughtered.

“Blood samples were taken from them and tested at the RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang). Based on the results, they are not infected with the virus,” Tayag said

Tayag pointed out the Ebola-Reston virus is not harmful to humans, unlike the feared African Ebola hemorrhagic virus.

Ebola’s three other subtypes – the Zaire, Sudan and Cote d’Ivoire strains – can cause deadly hemorrhagic fever in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Human infection with the Ebola-Reston subtype, found in the Western Pacific, has only caused asymptomatic illness, meaning that those who contract the disease do not experience clinical illness,” the WHO stated in its website.

For unknown reasons, Tayag said the Ebola-Reston variety of the virus is endemic to the Philippines.

“Even international experts don’t know why Ebola-Reston can be found only in the Philippines. Viruses have their own natural reservoir and we don’t why (it is here that it’s endemic),” he said.

DOH program manager for Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases Dr. Lyndon Leesuy said it is possible for Ebola-Reston virus to jump from pigs to humans, but there is no record of such a case.

In 1989, 1992 and 1996, the Ebola-Reston virus had already stricken some poultry farms in the Philippines. The virus had infected a total of 25 people but they did not get ill.

“Ebola-Reston is very different from the much-feared African Ebola. It has very, very low pathogenicity or the ability to harm its host,” Leesuy added.

Leesuy said the best way to prevent infection is to cook pork “very well” to kill the virus.

“Humans can get the virus, but it does not cause illness,” he said.

Malacañang said the public should not be alarmed over the discovery of the virus.

“The Department of Health and (the) Department of Agriculture (DA) were directed by the President to monitor the situation and we would like to assure the people we are taking all steps for their health and safety,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said Malacañang supported the advisory issued by the DOH and the DA urging the public to buy meat products from stalls certified by the National Meat Inspection Service.

She said the two agencies “are working together to control it but this strain is not known to infect humans and is an animal health issue.”

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Health Secretary Francisco Duque II earlier assured the public that the detection of the Ebola-Reston strain virus is only an animal health issue.

The DA and its agencies, led by the Bureau of Animal Industries, accidentally discovered the virus while investigating the previous outbreak of the Porcine Reproductive Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), which affected the local hog industry last year.

Officials said the tests were conducted in May, June and in September this year.

Upon detection of the Ebola-Reston strain virus, the infected pigs were killed, officials said. The infected hogs had displayed flu-like symptoms.

The DA has put under quarantine four farms where the virus was detected.

Animal authorities and local government units have been ordered to continually test pigs in their localities, and to quarantine all farms found with the virus, Yap said. Infected pigs are to be destroyed.

The government has also notified the WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization and other international bodies about the findings, Yap added.

This was not the first time that the Ebola-Reston strain was found in the Philippines, Yap said. Fifteen years ago, several people were infected by the virus that apparently jumped from local monkeys.

Only one of them developed a cold that later went away, Yap said.

Bulacan’s chief veterinarian Felipe Bartolome said the discovery of the Ebola-Reston virus among the hog farms in the province came as a surprise to them.

“The cases are not only the first in the Philippines, but also the first in the world,” Bartolome said.

Bartolome said he was surprised by the announcement made by DA and Health officials confirming the Ebola-Reston virus strain in the province.

“Before the Ebola confirmation, nothing obviously abnormal had been noted at the affected farms. It must have been initially a confidential issue,” he said.

Agriculture officials, however, allayed fears of possible shortage of pork in Metro Manila due to the quarantine imposed on some hog farms in Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan.

Jun Espiritu of the DA Central Luzon office said the supply of pork to Metro Manila during the Christmas season was assured.

Espiritu said the DA Central Luzon office is currently conducting strict monitoring and surveillance of the virus to prevent it from spreading to other areas.

The National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. (NFHFI) also said the local hog industry would not be badly affected by the recent detection of the virus.

NFHFI chairman Rene Eleria said the industry is better prepared to deal with any hog disease following the safety measures it has put in place since the outbreak of the Porcine Reproductive Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) last year.

The DA had imposed the quarantine on four hog farms located in Pandi, Bulacan; Manaoag, Pangasinan; Cabanatuan City and Talavera in Nueva Ecija.

Of the four farms where 28 tissue samples were taken and tested, Eleria said only six tested positive for the Ebola-Reston strain virus.

Eleria assured industry stakeholders that it is prepared and ready to take immediate and definitive action should the virus be detected elsewhere.

He said the immediate measures would include quarantine and destruction of suspected and infected pigs. – With Marianne Go, Paolo Romero, Dino Balabo, Ding Cervantes, AP