Alert Issued as U.S. Monkeypox Cases Grow to 37

Reuters ^ | Michael Conlon

[dead]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Officials in three states tried on Monday to track down pet prairie dogs believed spreading "monkeypox," a smallpox-like illness not seen before in the Western Hemisphere that may have infected 37 people.

Only six of the victims were being treated in hospitals, officials said, and they were expected to recover with bed rest. The disease, caused by monkeypox virus, is not believed to spread person-to-person.

But in light of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome scare and an approaching summer season when mosquito-borne West Nile virus was likely to again pose a deadly threat, health officials were moving to attack the newly diagnosed problem.

Stephen Ostroff of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Infection, said there were 33 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox under investigation. Locally, officials listed more -- 22 in Wisconsin, 10 in Indiana and five in Illinois.

"We don't know how many animals or humans have been involved and we don't know the scope of the problem," Ostroff told reporters in Atlanta.

UNHEALED LESIONS

He said only people with unhealed lesions need to be quarantined and the infection does not appear to be as contagious as smallpox, showing no signs of spreading from person to person.

"We do not have evidence of person-to-person transmission, although we are looking at that possibility," said Ostroff. He advised people to consult a veterinarian or local health officials if they owned or had been exposed to a sick prairie dog, rabbit or Gambian giant rat.

It is believed the disease spread from Gambian rats imported from Africa as exotic pets. It spread from there to prairie dogs, members of the squirrel family that live in the dry plains from Texas north to Canada and which have been rescued from exterminators for use as pets.

Phil Moberly, co-owner of a pet store in the Chicago suburbs where some of the infected prairie dogs were believed to have become infected, said on Monday he had bought the apparently infected rats in question from a breeder in Texas without knowing they were ill.

SEARCH OF PRAIRIE DOGS

Indiana officials say they are trying to track down 31 individuals or businesses believed to have purchased prairie dogs from Moberly's store since April 15. Similar efforts were under way in the other two states.

In addition some of the animals may have changed hands during a swap meet in Wisconsin, where most of the cases of illness have been reported.

Mark Wegner, a communicable disease expert with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, said the disease is most likely being spread when people are scratched or bitten while handling the prairie dogs.

Smallpox has been eradicated worldwide and children born after 1980 have not been vaccinated against it. Smallpox vaccinations, however, offer protection against monkeypox, meaning that adults who were vaccinated earlier are most likely to have immunity against it.

Children, however, are at risk. In Africa, the mortality rate for young children can be as high as 10 percent.

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This photo from the Center for Disease Control shows a child's infected finger two weeks after being bitten by a monkeypox infected prairie dog on May 13, 2003 in Dorchester, WI. The child was released after a one-week stay in a hospital on May 29 following treatment, according to the CDC. Public health officials in three states tried on June 9 to track down pet prairie dogs believed spreading a smallpox-like illness, not seen before in the Western Hemisphere, that may have infected 33 people. (Center For Disease Control via Reuters)

[Dog]

I thought they had this contained ???

[berserker]

Jill Cox, a member of the animal care staff at the Hogle Zoo, shows off their giant Gambian rat Monday, June 9, 2003, in Salt Lake City. Tests have confirmed that four people in Wisconsin contracted the monkeypox virus after coming into close contact with pet prairie dogs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday the prairie dogs likely were infected with the virus by a giant Gambian rat, which is indigenous to Africa, at a Chicago-area pet distributor. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

[Calpernia]

>>>>It is believed the disease spread from Gambian rats imported from Africa as exotic pets. It spread from there to prairie dogs, members of the squirrel family that live in the dry plains from Texas north to Canada and which have been rescued from exterminators for use as pets.

Seems it is easy to get these rats here in the states. I wonder how many more infected ones will be found

[TBall]

I wonder what happens if monkey pox gets to the wild prairie dog population?

[dead]

I don't know why anybody would have these rat-looking things for pets. Same goes for rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and cats.

[Calpernia]

Then the chain reaction begins. Birds will eat the infected prairie dogs, carry the disease elsewhere, who eats who after that.....

CDC can say anything they want NOW about whether it is transimittable human to human; but they don't know, yet.

[aristeides]

I wonder what happens if monkeypox gets to the squirrel and rabbit populations.

[Judith Anne]

Bump for a good question.

[backhoe]

I have started appending reports of "any weird disease" here at what started as a SARS post:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/892243/posts

[riri]

I don't know why anybody would have these rat-looking things for pets. Same goes for rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and cats

I agree. Now when I look at an animal like that, I think DISEASE VECTOR.

[TBall]

Yeah, I'm wondering if mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas will be carriers? Will my dog be OK?

[aristeides]

If we were still vaccinated against smallpox, this is one disease we would not have to worry about.

[aristeides]

I don't think insects and the like carry any of the orthopox diseases.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for adding palehorse to the keyword list.

[riri]

I think I just missed the smallpox as I was born in '69. I have no scar and my parents were always, well, not up on these things.

As it was I was missing a measles shot when I started college. I was busy and didn't have the time to mess with it and I just kinda fudged the record a bit

I was a kid. Cut me some slack.

[TBall]

Thanks, that is good news.

[45Auto]

One solution is at hand: Varmint Al, fellow Freeper:

Varmint Al

[Marie]

Indiana officials say they are trying to track down 31 individuals or businesses believed to have purchased prairie dogs from Moberly's store since April 15.

April 15. That's a LOT of time as far as disease containment goes. When was the first case diagnosed? I can't believe everybody has had these pets for this long and they all started getting sick just now.