Friday, January 30, 2009

Porcine ebola

One doesn't normally think of infection control with slaughterhouses. And, if one does, it's more likely to be hoof & mouth or BSE, not ebola.

Jan 27, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – Health officials in the Philippines recently announced that a worker who had contact with sick pigs tested positive for antibodies to the Ebola Reston virus, a pathogen that was discovered about a month ago for the first time in pigs.

Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Centre, said the case represent the first known pig-to-human Ebola Reston virus transmission, If you haven't run across it, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy ( CIDRAP) has a great website. This is, of course, one of those morbidly interesting sources. As we commented, after each of our environmental health courses: "oh my god, I never want to breathe, eat, or drink again, 'cause I'm gonna die!" The Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases is also a great read Pro-Med Mail is an on-line public-input disease tracking system.

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