No Ebola case in Philippines – DOH

MANILA, Philippines, May 25 ------ The Philippines remains free of Ebola, the Department of Health (DOH) assured the public even as the World Health Organization (WHO) raised concern over a growing outbreak of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus in parts of Africa.

DOH spokesperson Albert Domingo said the country is not affected by the current outbreak, which has been detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “To be very clear, there are no Ebola cases in the Philippines,” Domingo said in a radio interview over the weekend.

He added that while the WHO has issued warnings due to increasing cases in Congo, the Philippines remains at low risk because there is no direct exposure or active transmission locally. Domingo, who attended discussions at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, said the outbreak involves the Ebola Bundibugyo species, one of several strains of the virus identified since Ebola was first discovered in 1976. He explained that the Philippines has previously recorded Reston virus cases in animals in 1989, 1992, 1996 and 2008, but these were not linked to illness in humans.

The current outbreak in Congo, he said, is more concerning because it involves human infections in a conflict-affected area in Ituri Province, where access to health care is severely limited. “It is in a conflict zone where health facilities are weak or informal, and medical response is difficult, which allows transmission to continue,” Domingo said.

Source: philstar.com