Ebola Virus in Philippine Pigs – Update

December 23, 2008 — 

As reported in the December 17th edition of e-Letter (PRRS & Ebola Virus Reported in Philippine Pigs), researchers at USDA's Plum Island Animal Disease Laboratory have isolated the Reston strain of the Ebola virus in tissue samples submitted from pigs in the Philippines. This marks the first time Ebola virus has been isolated from any livestock species. The Ebola-Reston strain is not known to cause disease in humans and its pathogenicity in swine is unknown.

Diagnosticians at USDA's Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) on Plum Island transferred samples of the tissues to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on October 25th. Further testing of the samples at CDC's Special Pathogens Branch and Infectious Disease Pathology Branch confirmed the presence of Ebola-Reston virus.

An international team of researchers will be going to the Philippines in January to assist in investigating the extent of Ebola-Reston infection among pigs. CDC is cooperating with FAO, OIE, WHO and USDA in planning this multi-lateral effort and is contributing laboratory subject matter expertise through the Special Pathogens Branch in the National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne and Enteric Diseases.

The Center for Food Security & Public Health at Iowa State University has updated a fact sheet on the Ebola virus to include information on Ebola-Reston. Additional information is also available on the CDC's Special Pathogens Branch website.

Sources:
USDA
CDC