Quarantined hogs tested negative for Ebola virus

(Updated 5:50 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - The hogs that were quarantined in swine farms in Luzon were all tested negative for the Ebola-Reston virus strain, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said on Saturday. Yap said on radio that the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) declared the 49 hogs quarantined in four different piggeries to be free of the feared Ebola strain. According to the report, the case may be considered "isolated," considering that the strain had not spread and no additional cases were reported. Following the negative results of all hogs quarantined, the RITM would most likely cease the testing of hogs from Luzon piggeries. On Wednesday, hogs from commercial farms in Pandi (Bulacan province), Manaoag (Pangasinan) and backyard farms in Talavera and Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija) were quarantined after six out of 28 hogs were tested positive for the virus. Despite the RITM's findings, the ban on Philippine pork exports will remain for the meantime, Yap said. He also reminded the public, as a precautionary measure, to report sick animals to city and provincial veterinarians and to refrain from buying meat without the National Meat Inspection Service certification. In a telephone interview with GMANews.TV, Health Secretary Francisco Duque maintained that there is "no cause for alarm," adding that the strain is "an animal health problem, not a human health concern." Ebola-Reston, a sub-type of Ebola, has been discovered from crab-eating macaques imported from the Philippines. Out of 20 persons who handled the macaques, only one was tested positive due to flu-like symptoms. The person eventually recovered. Soe Nyunt-U, country representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the infections were the first cases reported in the country. The Health department will request international health agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization, WHO and the World Organization for Animal Health to send representatives and create a joint risk assessment team, Health Secretary Duque said. - Mikhaella De Leon, GMANews.TV