A team of international experts are investigating the Ebola Reston virus found in pigs at two farms in the northern Philippines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health and the World Health Organization are now working with their Philippines 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," according to a statement released by the Manila-based WHO Western Pacific Regional Office.

This is the first time that the virus has been found outside monkeys, and the first time ever, worldwide, that it has been found in swine, a food-producing animal.

The joint mission will last ten days and testing results will come out weeks later, said Caroline-Anne Coulombe, a technical officer of WHO, in a phone interview.

Meanwhile, WHO said that it remains safe to consume pork meat, as long as it is purchased in accredited outlets and it is handled and cooked properly.

Meat from suspect pigs, sick pigs or pigs found dead, should not be eaten nor fed to other animals, and proper hygiene precautions and protection should be taken to dispose of sick or dead pigs, health experts warned the public.

Ebola Reston, a sub-type of the Ebola, was first discovered in 1989 from crab-eating monkeys originating in the Philippines. The disease is infectious but no serious illness or death in humans has been reported to date.

The Philippines has issued a ban on pork exports to other countries after the Ebola Reston virus was identified there in October last year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2009)