March 16, 2009
More Philippine hog farms put under surveillance for ebola reston virus
At least 30,000 hogs from different farms in Luzon region in the Philippines are under strict surveillance in an attempt to protect the livestock sector from the outbreak of Ebola-Reston virus.
Last week, agriculture authorities culled 6,000 hogs in a farm in Bulacan province north of the national capital Metro Manila.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the culling was done due to test results revealing that viral transmission continues to exist in these farms based on research done by various local and international agencies. Blood samples collected from humans and pigs in this farm tested positive for Ebola-Reston virus, the strain that has yet to cause serious diseases to the human.
The World Health Organization classified the incident as "posing low public health risk" in its assessment earlier this year.
Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Davinio Catbagan said the US government will ensure the supply of the test kits for the sampling of the 30,000 pigs covered by the surveillance work.
