Here comes monkeypox

Canada.com ^ | June 10, 2003 | Margaret Munro

[FairOpinion]

As if SARS, mad cow and West Nile virus were not enough, Health Canada is advising public health officials to be on the lookout for monkeypox, a serious disease related to smallpox, which has made its first appearance in North America.

No cases have been reported in Canada, but an advisory is being sent to medical officials and public health labs across the country about an "epidemic" in the U.S. and the need to watch for the disease, said Dr. Frank Plummer, head of Health Canada's national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg.

Thirty-seven people in the U.S. Midwest are believed to be infected with the virus, which they picked up from pet prairie dogs. The prairie dogs are believed to have contracted the virus from Gambian giant-pouched rats from Africa, imported by an exotic pet dealer in the Chicago area.

The pets passed on the virus to their owners. One four-year-old girl was nipped on the finger. Both she and her parents developed monkeypox.

Seven people have been hospitalized, but no one has died.

The disease, which manifests itself as blisters on the skin, high fevers, drenching sweat and headaches, is also considered a potential bioterror agent. However, the outbreak doesn't appear to be bioterrorism.

Steve Ostroff, deputy director of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases, said he expects the number of cases to rise as human and animal samples are tested. But Dr. Ostroff said only people who had direct contact with infected prairie dogs, or in one case a rabbit, have come down with the illness.

"For the average citizen, I would not necessarily be concerned at this point of being exposed to monkeypox."

Disease specialists say there is a good chance the virus can be contained if all the infected animals can be found and destroyed. But if it gets loose in wild prairie dogs, which are widespread on the Prairies, authorities will have to deal with another serious exotic disease.

"I'd say that could be a health crisis, depending how well it spreads," says professor Grant McFadden, a specialist in pox diseases at the University of Western Ontario, in London.

He says the disease is a "much more serious" for humans than West Nile. The death rate for monkeypox has been known to be as high as 10 per cent in Africa, though the strain on the loose in the U.S. appears to be less virulent.

If the virus were to get into the wild, Mr. McFadden might have to consider vaccinating people with smallpox vaccine, which protects against both that disease and monkeypox. There is a stockpile of the vaccine available in Canada, but doctors are not anxious to use it because the vaccine can have serious health effects.

Mr. McFadden says he was "shocked" to learn the virus had arrived in the U.S. But he said it should be "fairly controllable."

"If they can round up all the infected animals that should be the end of it," he said.

The U.S. pet distributor, Phillip Moberley, has reported that he voluntarily quarantined his home-based business and killed 70 prairie dogs.

Dr. Plummer said Canadian officials were not given a heads-up about the outbreak from the CDC. "It would have been good to have known a bit of ahead of time," he said, adding he learned about the outbreak on the Internet and by media reports.

Facts About the Monkeypox Virus

- The incubation period is about 12 days.

- The symptoms start with fever, headache, body aches, chills, drenching sweat and sometimes a cough. This is followed one to 10 days later by a rash with pustules that eventually crust over. They can occur almost anywhere on the body.

- In Africa, fatality rates range from one per cent to 10 per cent. In the current U.S. outbreak, no one has died.

- The smallpox vaccine is effective at stopping infection. Those who got vaccinated before smallpox shots were discontinued in the 1970s may still have at least partial protection.

- In the U.S. outbreak, victims caught the virus through close contact with sick animals. Most handled the animals and were bitten or had breaks in their skin.

- The virus can be passed from from person to person, especially if they have sores.

- In Africa, squirrels are thought to be a common source of the virus. Rabbits and rodents can also carry it, as well as apes and monkeys. The disease was first identified in monkeys.

- To avoid catching the virus, avoid contact with prairie dogs or Gambian giant rats that appear sick, especially if they are missing patches of fur, have rashes or have a discharge from their eyes or nose. Wash hands thoroughly after contact with these or any sick animals.

[FairOpinion]

"If the virus were to get into the wild, Mr. McFadden might have to consider vaccinating people with smallpox vaccine, which protects against both that disease and monkeypox."

Obviously there is a serious concern, though, of course they don't want people to panic, nor is there a need.. yet.

[RoughDobermann]

Time for "Pink Mist" to be revisited...

[theFIRMbss]

"Family: Poxvirus

"Habitat: rainforest of Central and Western Africa

"Behavior: zoonosis transmitted by monkeys; no human-to-human transfer so is unsustainable in the human population

"Action: must be played with a monkey vector; causes enemy to come down with a sydrome clinically similar to smallpox (Damage: 25); disease will not recur in enemy population unless this card is played again

"Counterattacks: if opponent has a squirrel reservior card, monkeypox will not harm him; smallpox vaccine also offers protection

"A Pox on You! [Caroline Perry, Stephanie Robson, Winter, 2000]"

[Lijahsbubbe]

West Nile, mad cow, SARS, monkeypox, have any of these been occuring in Arab countries?

[backhoe]

Cross-link:

-Strange new disease outbreaks--

[FairOpinion]

Cute monkey, but the "no human-to-human transfer" is wrong.

In the Congo outbreak in 1996-97, 73% of the infections were secondary, were human to human transmission. This is based on studying actual cases.

"Of the 89 case-patients for whom data were available, 65 (73%) reported contact with another case-patient 7-21 days before onset of illness and thus were considered secondary cases"

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00048673.htm

[stlnative]

Why is it that people have to start a new monkeypox thread every few hours, when the news is not really that different from the first monkeypox post of the day? Come on folks stop starting new threads and continue to add the new news to the first one started for the day. Keep the daily information in one post so that people can really find all the "news" on the monkeypox breakout in one thread since the info is only changing slightly daily.

[Cindy]

FYI:

FR Discussion: "POX-LIKE OUTBREAK REPORTED" (On-going discussion began June 7, 2003)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925154/posts

[stlnative]

Yes... another one!

[Trust but Verify]

These threads reproduce like rabbits.

[FairOpinion]

Why can't people skip articles they are not interested in, instead of trying to be the FR "Nazi police"?

This particular one talks about CANADA being concerned about monkeypox, another had news that the number of cases increased to 48 now.

These are all NEW news items appearing in legitimate news sources.

Just because some people would like to suppress some legitimate news, doesn't mean that others should be prevented from posting or discussing it.

Just as the SARS outbreak was followed in the news media, so is this. We don't make up the news item, we post them and discuss them.

[stlnative]

Actually they are spreading out worse than the monkeypox itself is. Of course more people are going to come down with monkeypox or suspected cases as word gets out and they find all the prairie dogs and gambian rats this wholesale exotic pet dealer had about a month ago.

[Shermy]

Monkeypox ground zero discovered. It's "Phil's Pocket Pets."

[Prince Charles]

This pet "store" is actually a private residence in Villa Park, Illinois.

[stlnative]

They are all the same news with only slight differences, they could all be placed in one daily thread instead of people posting a new version of the same story every few hours. Right now a slightly different version comes out in the news about every 30 minutes. The subject is important and worth reading, but is not worth a new thread being started every few hours when new slightly different releases can be added to the first thread of the day and can continue on for that day. Why cannot you stay on one thread about monkeypox to get your opinion across, is it because some people are down playing your over concern about this and your need to start yet another new thread after the old one barely reaches 50 replies?

Please do post the new releases on the first thread of the day. I read what you have to share.

[stlnative]

He runs it out is home and is a wholesaler and retailer, who also sells through the internet. Just look him up on Google.

[Prince Charles]

NBC Channel 5 TV in Chicago just ran a piece about a 17 year old boy in Warrenville who is infected with monkeypox. His face and body was covered with pustules, just like the African boy in the picture you posted. He said he had lesions in his nose and throat which made it hard to breathe. During the interview he called for paramedics; he was transported to the hospital in a mask and body gown.

[Shermy]

Good video at this Chicago station:

http://www.cbs2chicago.com/

[aristeides]

So it seems it is possible to get a serious case of this strain. Note that the Canadian doctor said monkeypox is a more serious disease than West Nile.

[x]

It's sounds like a horrible disease. Unfortunately the name brings to mind a Brendan Fraser comedy of a few years ago, that was certainly horrible enough, but in another sense of the word. I'd suggest changing the name so that people can take it more seriously.