The Filovirus Research Program was established in 1996 following the confirmation of Ebola Reston (EBO-R) outbreak among Philippine cynomolgus monkeys exported to the US in April of that year. Following this study, the program expanded the activities and included surveillance as well as diagnostics in support of the government’s thrust to supply the local and international biomedical research community with high quality disease-free laboratory monkeys. Moreover, studies on the molecular biology of the virus and investigations of possible natural hosts are underway.

The main goal of the program is to determine the public health effects of the virus and establish EBO-R disease surveillance and testing. The investigators continue to work with the Special Pathogens Branch of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New collaborations were established with the Tsukuba Primate Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan and the Laboratory of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Veterinary Medical Science, University of Tokyo with funding support from the Japan Science and Technology Agency.

The following are the research studies that have been conducted: 1) Serological examination for EBO-R antibodies in newly captured monkeys for replacement of breeders and the EBO-R antigen detection among monkey deaths suspected with infectious diseases; 2) Molecular and Genetic Analysis of Ebola Reston Virus in the Philippines; 3) Detection and Molecular Characterization of Ebola Viruses Causing Disease in Human and Nonhuman Primates; 4) Outbreak of Ebola Reston Virus among Philippine Macaques, 1996; and 5) Is the Ebola Reston Virus a Threat to Occupationally Exposed Humans?