Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often fatal disease in humans, monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees.
There are five identified subtypes of Ebola virus namely: Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast, Ebola-Bundibugyo and the fifth which is Ebola-Reston. The first four caused disease in humans. Ebola-Reston has so far caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans.
Fortunately, Ebola-Reston was the subtype isolated from the Philippine hogs. The virus unexpectedly jumped from the monkeys to the hogs which can possibly transmit the virus to humans. The virus is transmitted through blood and other body secretions or fluids.
"Is it mutating? We don’t know but we have to keep an eye on its possible transfer to humans and its implications", according to Peter Cordingley, WHO speaker. WHO remains concerned about the jump from the macques to the hogs.
Tests were conducted in May, June and September of 2008.The Department of Agriculture 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.
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.
The Philippine Star,
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