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Science 10 July 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5937, pp. 204 - 206
DOI: 10.1126/science.1172705
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Reports

Discovery of Swine as a Host for the Reston ebolavirus

Roger W. Barrette,1 Samia A. Metwally,1,* Jessica M. Rowland,1 Lizhe Xu,1 Sherif R. Zaki,2 Stuart T. Nichol,2 Pierre E. Rollin,2 Jonathan S. Towner,2 Wun-Ju Shieh,2 Brigid Batten,2 Tara K. Sealy,2 Consuelo Carrillo,1 Karen E. Moran,1 Alexa J. Bracht,1 Gregory A. Mayr,1 Magdalena Sirios-Cruz,3 Davinio P. Catbagan,3 Elizabeth A. Lautner,1 Thomas G. Ksiazek,2,{dagger} William R. White,1 Michael T. McIntosh1,*

Since the discovery of the Marburg and Ebola species of filovirus, seemingly random, sporadic fatal outbreaks of disease in humans and nonhuman primates have given impetus to identification of host tropisms and potential reservoirs. Domestic swine in the Philippines, experiencing unusually severe outbreaks of porcine reproductive and respiratory disease syndrome, have now been discovered to host Reston ebolavirus (REBOV). Although REBOV is the only member of Filoviridae that has not been associated with disease in humans, its emergence in the human food chain is of concern. REBOV isolates were found to be more divergent from each other than from the original virus isolated in 1989, indicating polyphyletic origins and that REBOV has been circulating since, and possibly before, the initial discovery of REBOV in monkeys.

1 Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, National Veterinary Services Laboratories, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, United States Department of Agriculture, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, New York, NY 11944, USA.
2 Special Pathogens and Infectious Disease Pathology Branches, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
3 Bureau of Animal Industry, Department of Agriculture, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.

{dagger} Present address: Galveston National Lab, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77550, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail michael.t.mcintosh{at}aphis.usda.gov (M.T.M.); samia.a.metwally{at}aphis.usda.gov (S.A.M.)

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Keep Wings from Pigs to Curb Reston ebolavirus
Colin D. Butler, et al.
Science Online, 18 Sep 2009 [Full text]

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