Ebola-Infected Pigs

(Bulacan Province, Philippines) Yesterday, four 10-member teams of workers from the Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) began busily "depopulating" a farm of 6,000 pigs infected with the Ebola-Reston virus.

Security is tight around the farm which lies northeast of Manila in the town of Pandi. Journalists are allowed no closer than two kilometers to prevent spread of the virus. Police checkpoints have been positioned at key locations in the province to dissuade reporters from getting close.

According to a text message from BAI Director Dave Catbagan, 300 pigs were culled by the afternoon. The killing operation was observed by representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) along with provincial and local officials.

During an interview on Friday, Catbagan said the pigs would be killed with a captive bolt pistol which he explained is a stun gun with a blunt rod.

The rod would be used to put pressure on a certain part of a pig’s forehead, which would immobilize and/or kill the animals.

“In this way, the pigs won’t feel anything,” he said.

An area of the farm has been designated for collecting and burning the carcasses. After the carcasses are burned, field personnel will clean the farm and its surroundings with disinfectants.

Director Catbagan said the cause of the outbreak is still being investigated. Six workers became infected by the pigs but it's unknown how the pigs acquired the virus.

Catbagan said tests done by local and foreign health and animal experts on pigs in a farm in Pangasinan and slaughterhouses in Valenzuela City and Nueva Ecija yielded negative results for Ebola transmission.

Dr. Enrique Tayag, director of the DOH National Epidemiology Center, said the two workers from Pandi farm and four others from Pangasinan, Valenzuela and Cabanatuan City initially found to have acquired the virus were now safe.

According to the WHO, the strain infecting the pigs is not dangerous to humans, unlike the four deadly Ebola subtypes found in Africa.

Typically, the Ebola-Reston strain only kills monkeys. Of course, there are still unanswered questions. More research is required.