The deadly human ebola virus has been found in three of seven dead laboratory monkeys checked so far out of a larger shipment to a Virginia research firm from the Philippines, federal health officials said Friday.
The firm, Hazelton Research Products of Reston, Va. got about 100 monkeys in October. Officials announced Thursday that the virus had been found in at least one.
It was the first time the virus had been found in a non-human and the first time it had been found in the United States.
”We don’t know where they got the virus,” said Charles Dasey, a spokesman at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md.
”We’re continuing to help Hazleton and public health officials determine how far it has spread through the monkey colony.”
The ebola virus, considered the world’s most deadly virus before AIDS was discovered, causes a contagious disease that is transmitted through body fluids and secretions, though not through casual contact, according to Dr. Susan Fishel-Hoch of the institute.
It was first identified in Zaire in 1976, where over 500 people died.
The virus kills 50 percent to 90 percent of those it infects. There is no vaccine.
About 100 monkeys were imported from the Philippines in early October by Hazleton, a subsidiary of Corning Glass Corp. that uses primates for cosmetics and drug testing.
In mid-November, medical investigators helped Hazleton determine that some of the monkeys suffered from simian hemorrhagic fever and that one monkey had the ebola virus. All of the animals in the shipment were then destroyed, authorities said.
Since then, 17 monkey carcasses have been sent to Fort Detrick for necropsies, similar to autopsies in humans. The first seven arrived Wednesday, and three, including the initial animal, had the virus.
Ten more delivered Friday have not been examined, Dasey said. It was not immediately known when the remaining necropsies would be performed.
Health officials said Friday Hazelton employees who had worked with the monkeys had worn surgical masks, gowns and gloves on the job.
Officials planned to keep a tight surveillance on the estimated 25 employees involved, even though there was no evidence that a human had the virus and none showed any symptoms of disease.
”At this point, I don’t see where we have a health problem,” said Barbara Mitchell, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health in Richmond. ”We probably would have seen something by now if someone was infected, but we’re still taking every precaution we can.”
Mitchell said the 25 workers will be examined daily for the next three weeks in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
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