Experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) will form a task force to probe the world's first cases of the Ebola-Reston virus found in hogs, as requested by the Philippine government, WHO said on Tuesday.

In a press release, the Manila-based WHO Western Pacific Regional Office said that samples taken from sick pigs in northern Philippine provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in May, June and September were confirmed by international reference laboratories tests that the pigs were infected with a highly virulent strain of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome as well as the Ebola-Reston virus.

"Although co-infection in pigs is not unusual, this is the first time globally that an Ebola-Reston virus has been isolated in swine," WHO said.

The planned joint team is expected to work with country counterparts to address, through field and laboratory investigation, important questions as to the source of the virus, its transmission, its virulence and its natural habitat, in order to provide appropriate guidance for animal and human health protection, it added.

The Ebola virus belongs to the Filoviridae family and is comprised of five distinct species. Zaire, Sudan and Bundibugyo species have been associated with large Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa with high case fatality ratio (25 - 90 percent) while Cote d'Ivoire and Reston have not. Reston species can infect humans but no serious illness or death in humans has been reported to date.

The Philippine health authority earlier reported that initial laboratory tests on animal handlers and slaughterhouse workers who were thought to have come into contact with infected pigs were negative for Ebola Reston infection, while all infected animals were said to have been destroyed, buried or burned.

WHO Western Pacific Regional Office spokeswoman Caroline-Ann Coulombe told Xinhua earlier this month that WHO experts consider the Philippine hog infection a low threat incident to the public health as historically speaking, Ebola-Reston infection in the Philippines, usually found in monkeys, does not pose a serious threat to human lives.

WHO, however, said meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead should not be eaten and should not enter the food chain or be given to other animals.

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2008)