HEALTH Manila reports Ebola virus in pigs

[BigFootsCousin]

By Roel Landingin in Manila

Published: December 11 2008 20:24 | Last updated: December 11 2008 20:24

Philippine officials tucked into servings of lechon, the popular dish of roasted whole pig, in front of television cameras on Thursday to reassure the public of the safety of the national staple meat after the discovery among hogs near Manila of a strain of the Ebola virus.

Arthur Yap, agriculture secretary, and Francisco Duque, health secretary, said the Ebola Reston virus, which had never been found in pigs before, presented a low health risk for humans and was different from the deadly African variety.

The World Health Organisation was reported to be looking into whether there was any chance humans could have become infected.

The outbreak could deal a blow to Philippine plans to build a pork export industry. The government halted an inaugural shipment of frozen pork to Singapore and quarantined three swine farms.

Pork vendors in public markets in Manila sought to assure buyers that their products had passed government inspection and met safety standards.

“December is the month when we sell the most pork at relatively higher price,” said Evelyn Reyes, who operates a small pork stall in Quezon City. “I really hope the government does a good work of calming people’s fears about the Ebola virus.”

Pork accounts for more than half of the average 61g of meat consumed daily by each Filipino.

The virus was first discovered in 1989 in macaque monkeys imported from the Philippines by a laboratory in Reston, Virginia. Scientists are trying to determine how the virus spread to pigs.

Link:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/93df0f52-c7c0-11dd-b611-000077b07658.html
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This doesn't sound too good IMO.

BFC

 

[dissimulo]

Ebola Reston is not easily transmitted, as evidenced by the fact that most of the people exposed in the monkey facility in Reston didn't get it. So that is good.

On the other hand, how the hell did it end up in pigs in Manila?

 

[dissimulo]

I remembered there was some connection to Manila with the Reston outbreak, so I went back and re-read the account. It turns out that the Philippines is a monkey import/export hub and probably brought the Reston strain in with monkeys from Africa. So, this is not the first time for Ebola in the area. The question is whether this is freshly imported or if it has found a reservoir in the Philippines and has just been spotted again.

 

[cjoi]

I suspect that there is serious Se (Selenium) deficiency there and wonder if they treated immediately (with Selenium IM injection) at onset as for White Muscle Disease if the survival rate wouldn't shoot up... (each Ebola virus requires 11 - that's eleven - atoms of Selenium to pacify the virus. This fact along with the scarcity of Selenium in mammal bodies results in the extremely rapid fulminating nature of Ebola.)

A brief, general, description of White Muscle Disease across some mammal species at this link. For discussion's sake, a quote of the info on affected pigs :

http://www.saltinstitute.org/47t.html

*snip*
Swine
Sudden death is a prominent feature of selenium deficiency. Gross necropsy lesions of a selenium deficiency are identical to those of a vitamin E deficiency (87). They include massive hepatic necrosis, and edema of the spiral colon, lungs, subcutaneous tissues, and submucosa of the stomach. Bilateral paleness and dystrophy of the skeletal muscles (white muscle disease) are often found. Occasionally, mottling and dystrophy of the myocardium (mulberry heart disease) are also observed. Mulberry heart disease in pigs is most common when cereal-based diets contain less than 0.05 ppm selenium. Recent research by Mahan showed that adding .15 or .30 ppm selenium from sodium selenite from late gestation through day 14 of lactation increased milk selenium content and serum selenium concentration in nursing pigs compared to the unsupplemented controls (271). Organic selenium sources (selenium yeast) did increase milk selenium 2.5 to 3.0 times higher than the sodium selenite. Selenium supplementation of the sow may reduce the incidence of mulberry heart disease in the young pig. The incidence and degree of selenium deficiency may be increased by environmental stress. Dietary arsenicals help to alleviate selenium toxicity (87, 92). *snip*

Another way to avoid Selenium toxicity is to get it from dietary sources that have been incorporated into plants prior to harvesting. Brazil nuts, FWIW, are the richest dietary source of Selenium and are used as staples where they grow.

 

[changed]

Ebola found in hogs in Philippines

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/93df0f52-c7c0-11dd-b611-000077b07658.html

This is just a snip. The rest of the article is at the link.

Philippine officials tucked into servings of lechon, the popular dish of roasted whole pig, in front of television cameras on Thursday to reassure the public of the safety of the national staple meat after the discovery among hogs near Manila of a strain of the Ebola virus.

Arthur Yap, agriculture secretary, and Francisco Duque, health secretary, said the Ebola Reston virus, which had never been found in pigs before, presented a low health risk for humans and was different from the deadly African variety.

 

[changed]

Philippines is a densely populated country with a large poor class. There are people who live at the garbage dump and they swarm the trucks when they go there to unload. If this strain mutates and jumps over to humans, we could see a tragedy unfold.

 

[dissimulo]

I suspect that there is serious Se (Selenium) deficiency there and wonder if they treated immediately (with Selenium IM injection) at onset as for White Muscle Disease if the survival rate wouldn't shoot up... (each Ebola virus requires 11 - that's eleven - atoms of Selenium to pacify the virus. This fact along with the scarcity of Selenium in mammal bodies results in the extremely rapid fulminating nature of Ebola.)

Got a reference for that? I'd be really interested to read it.

I'm not sure what pacifying the ebola virus means, nor how we would have measured out the eleven selenium atoms necessary to do so.

 

[LeViolinist]

oh boy I wish I hadn't read this.

My son had breakfast in Manila tuesday and will be in the Philippines for several weeks.
He sent me a picture of his meal. Threw out the eggs. Said the meat was okay... looks kind of spiced up and said it tasted like corned beef.

LeV

 

[Rex Jackson]

"Arthur Yap, agriculture secretary, and Francisco Duque, health secretary, said the Ebola Reston virus, which had never been found in pigs before",..

Those are the kind of news alerts that I don't like to see.

 

[BigFootsCousin]

Got a reference for that? I'd be really interested to read it.

I'm not sure what pacifying the ebola virus means, nor how we would have measured out the eleven selenium atoms necessary to do so.

Allright dissimulo, fess up here. Who are you, a relative of Einsteins perhaps?

And here I was all worried because I know that ebola can give you DIC, and that's 'Bad'.

Are you actively working in this type of area, or is this merely a strange hobby of yours.




BFC

 

[Double_A]

BFC,

I think your question would be better directed to Cjoi.

 

[dissimulo]

Allright dissimulo, fess up here. Who are you, a relative of Einsteins perhaps?

I just quoted that eleven selenium atom business from above. Counting out atoms is no easy feat, so I figure if it is true, someone must have figured this out theoretically based on the structure of Ebola. But, I read everything I can get my hands on regarding Filoviruses and I haven't seen anything that would show such a connection. On the other hand, the military apparently does a lot of Filovirus research that they don't get around to publishing, and you never know who you might be talking to on TB2K.

 

[FarmerJohn]

Ebola Reston is not easily transmitted, as evidenced by the fact that most of the people exposed in the monkey facility in Reston didn't get it. So that is good.

On the other hand, how the hell did it end up in pigs in Manila?

While Ebola Reston did not infect the humans (early human contact with minimal precautions, later contact with full CBW gear) if I recall correctly, it did spread from monkey to monkey (although only mildly fatal). I'll see if I still have my copy of The Hot Zone (the book, NOT the movie).

I have a particular interested in this, having lived and worked for years very near the Hazeldon Laboratories (now Covance) that was the headquarters of the company that ran the monkey facility that had to be sanitized by USAMRID.

The story of the soldiers and soldierettes (no disrespect intended) who cleaned up that mess is one of uncelebrated heroism.

FJ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_Reston#notea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ebola_virus_em.jpg





FJ

 

[Mark D]

The pressing question is, "What caliber do you use for zombie pigs"?

 

[dissimulo]

The pressing question is, "What caliber do you use for zombie pigs"?

Something that doesn't produce spatter, I'd suggest.