Robert Roos 
News Editor
May 13, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Canadian researchers have shown that an Ebola virus species that can kill humans can also infect pigs and spread among them, raising the specter of Ebola virus as a potential foodborne pathogen.
The researchers infected two groups of pigs with a high dose of the Zaire Ebola virus ("ZEBOV"), a strain that is up to 90% fatal in humans, according to a report published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The pigs became ill to varying degrees, with severe signs in some cases, and they transmitted the virus to other pigs that were previously unexposed.
A US expert who wrote a commentary on the findings said the probability of Ebola virus becoming a foodborne pathogen is small but can't be dismissed for now.
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