By Othel Campos

ALL 6,000 pigs on the Bulacan hog farm where the deadly Ebola Reston virus was first detected will be slaughtered, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap announced in a briefing yesterday.

?The good news is we are now lifting the quarantine in Pangasinan,? Yap told reporters.

?But not in Bulacan, where test results proved that there has been an ongoing viral transmission.?

Yap refused to say how much assistance the government would be providing the farm, ?but suffice it to say that it will cover the economic costs or loss, but we?ll have to make sure that it will not be abused.?

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said depopulation was necessary to prevent the spread of the Ebola Reston virus to more pigs around the farm.

He said that was the recommendation of the joint mission of international experts to avoid possible pig-to-human transmission of the virus.

The slaughter of the pigs in Bulacan is to be done quickly in coordination with the local government unit and national and local government agencies.

Animal Bureau chief Davinio Catbagan said a sixth human had tested positive for Ebola Reston antibodies based on recent tests conducted in US laboratories.

Duque said the additional positive human sample was traced to a slaughterhouse worker in Cabanatuan.

?He does not recall any direct contact with sick pigs but remembers having flu-like illness in the past 12 months,? Duque said.

?There is no evidence, however, that the flu-like symptoms can be attributed to ERV infection,? he said, adding no one else of the 25 tested from the slaughterhouse was infected.

?To date, all close contacts of humans with positive antibodies who were tested have remained antibody-free, signifying the absence of illness in affected humans that can lead to possible human-to-human transmission,? Duque said.

?Ebola Reston poses a low risk to human health at this time.?

Experts said the monitoring of nearby farms in Bulacan would be sustained to prevent another Ebola Reston outbreak.

The Agriculture Department is to expand the coverage to other farms in other areas, while the Health Department is to carry out surveillance in those farms or areas where the virus has been detected.

Catbagan said scientific studies would continue to determine the source of Ebola in pigs, and to characterize pig-to-pig and pig-to-human transmissions.