The
Philippines has suspended exports of the macaque monkey after an Ebola
virus strain that is non-fatal to humans struck 20 of the animals,
killing 11, officials have said.
Eleven
captive Philippine macaques have died after contracting the bat-borne
Ebola Reston virus, while nine others are under treatment, Simeon
Amurao, assistant director of the Bureau of Animal Industry, said on
Thursday.
“All exports are suspended while we investigate this incident,” Amurao told the AFP news agency.
The
Philippines is among the world’s major exporters of laboratory monkeys
and has so far shipped close to 300 monkeys to Japan this year, and 600
last year, Amurao added.
“This kind
of Ebola is the least harmful in terms of human affectation.This is
limited to monkeys,” Health Secretary Janette Garin told reporters on
Thursday.
“The situation has been contained. The possible sources [of infection] have been traced.”
Garin said
62 workers in two monkey-breeding facilities all tested negative for
infection in August following the deaths of 10 macaques that had
exhibited Ebola symptoms.
The 10
fatalities were traced to two other undisclosed breeding centres where
another 10 tested positive for the virus, one of which died, she said.
It was the first case of Ebola Reston among Philippine macaques since 1997, according to the agriculture department.
In 2009, 6,000 pigs at a farm in Manila’s northern suburbs were slaughtered after they tested positive for Ebola Reston.
No comments:
Post a Comment