“endemic to the US rodent population.”
There was a Monkey pox outbreak here in 2010 mainly affecting prairie dogs.
I wasn't aware of that. So it just died out naturally? That is good news.
From a different article...
"The difference between the 2003 outbreak and the recent one is the ways in which the virus can be transmitted. According to the CDC, the virus can be passed from person to person, and appears to be spreading through breathing in large respiratory droplets as well as by touching the skin lesions of an infected person, both of which require close, prolonged contact with an infected person. It can also be contracted off of contaminated surfaces, like bed linens. But during the 2003 outbreak, all 35 confirmed cases in humans were caused by direct contact with the infected prairie dogs. In fact, at the time, the CDC said that “no instances of monkeypox infection were attributed exclusively to person-to-person contact.”
"The 2003 outbreak is not the only disease associated with prairie dogs. Wild populations of black-tailed prairie dogs in the American West are endemic breeding grounds for the literal plague. As in, bubonic.