Philippines suspends macaque exports after 11 monkeys die of Ebola
The Philippine government has suspended the export of macaques after 11 out of 20 monkeys infected with an Ebola virus strain died.
On Thursday, Philippine officials confirmed that 11 captive Philippine macaques died from the bat-brone Ebola Reston virus. The remaining nine monkeys are still being treated, and authorities are now looking into the incident, according to an AFP report published by Yahoo! News.
In an interview with the AFP, Bureau of Animal Industry assistant director Simeon Amurao confirmed that exports of the Philippine macaques have been suspended. He also added that the Philippines is one of the largest exporters of laboratory monkeys in the world. Last year alone, it has sent almost 600 monkeys to Japan and half of that number this year, the report details.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Janette Garin told the public not to worry about the virus because it cannot be transmitted to humans. The Ebola Reston virus only affects monkeys, the Business Mirror reports.
"This kind of Ebola is the least harmful in terms of human affectation. This is limited to monkeys," the AFP quotes Health Secretary Garin's statement to the media. "The situation has been contained. The possible sources (of infection) have been traced."
Garin also explained that while the Ebola strain seen in animals in Africa is fatal to humans, the present case of the Philippine macaques works the opposite way.
Garin explained that all 62 employees in two monkey-breeding facilities have undergone tests for Ebola virus infection last month in the wake of the monkey deaths. However, all the tested workers had negative results, but they will once again be tested after 21 days, the report relays.
The macaques that died came from two other unnamed breeding facilities where 10 more monkeys have been confirmed to be infected by the virus. One of the Ebola-infected macaques died, Garin added.
This was the first time that Philippine macaques have tested positive for the Ebola Reson virus since 1997, the Philippine agriculture department said. In 2009, around 6,000 pigs in Manila were slaughtered after they were confirmed to be infected with the same virus.
