The World Health Organization is not minimizing the human health implication of the mutation of the Ebola Reston strain virus from Philippine macaques to hogs.
In an interview with The STAR, WHO spokesman in Manila, Peter Cordingley admitted the WHO’s concern about the jump of the Ebola Reston strain virus from macaques to hogs and its implication to humans.
According to Cordingley, the virus in macaques infected humans in the past, but the infected person did not get sick.
When tests were done on the infected persons in 1989, Cordingley said, some were found to have developed antibodies which enabled their bodies to defend against the virus.
The detection of the antibodies, Cordingley said, indicates that the virus “has the potential to infect, but not to make people sick.”
The concern of the WHO now, Cordingley said, is that the virus has jumped from macaques to hogs which can transmit the virus to humans.
“Is it mutating? We don’t know. We don’t know if it is leading to something. It may not lead to anything or it may be something we need to look at closely. That is why we are concerned and want to study the virus,” Cordingley told The STAR.
The WHO, Cordingley said, is still awaiting a formal invitation from the Philippine government to conduct a study of the virus.
The WHO, Cordingley continued, is keen to immediately send a team to study the virus along with representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization and Organization de Epizooties (or World Animal Health Organization).
In its Dec. 10 announcement of the confirmation of the detection of the Ebola Reston strain virus, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health stressed that the detection of the virus is not currently a human health problem, but an animal health issue.
The DA and its agencies led by the Bureau of Animal Industry accidentally discovered the virus while investigating the previous outbreak of the porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome which had badly affected the local hog industry last year.
The tests were conducted in May, June and September this year.
US health authorities informed Philippine authorities of the detection of the Ebola Reston strain virus on Oct. 30 and yet official announcement of the detection of the virus was only made on Dec. 10.
Infected hogs displayed flu like symptoms.
The physical make-up of hogs is closest to that of humans, making hogs an ideal breeding ground for viruses to jump from animals to humans.