Don't worry, I'm well stocked.
Posted on 06/10/2003 3:01:30 PM PDT by 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.
Don't worry, I'm well stocked.
Actually, the word 'epidemic' appears in this story as well. What does it take for an outbreak to evolve into an epidemic? I think some people are playing it a little loose with their verbiage.
Of course not - relying on the mass-media press results in large 'gaps' in story coverage ... PLUS not all the 'victims' are/were human ...
From: http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/1999/Oct/hour2_100199.html we have this:
October 1, 1999:Last month, we told you about a disease outbreak in the New York metropolitan area that had mosquito sprayers in overdrive. At the time, the disease was thought to be St. Louis encephalitis, an insect-borne illness harbored by birds. Now, scientists are revising their diagnosis. The four deaths and dozens of hospitalizations to date, they say, were caused by another, similar disease, called West Nile Virus - a disease never seen before in the western hemisphere.
What caused the change in diagnosis? A cluster of dead crows was found near the grounds of the Wildlife Conservation Society (the Bronx Zoo) in New York. Then, some of the birds in the zoo's collection fell victim.
Zoo researchers trying to track down the cause discovered traces of the foreign virus in the birds. At the same time, health workers using advanced techniques to study the human victims of the encephalitis outbreak found signs of the West Nile virus as well.
I'll just ignore all of your posts, you never add anything anyway.
Really proves nothing ... I wonder how many diseases I could find that 'appeared' each year in the past fifty years ... one thing - monkeypox could have been prevented IF stricter procedures were in place to prevent the helter-skelter imporation of non-native species without strict quarantine procedures and checks by vets ... I think basic health procedures like hand-washing is on the wane too ... this moring the zoo-guy (wild animal man Jack what's-his-name Hanna?) on NBC's Today show (I think it was) re-counted the SEVERAL diseases he has picked from monkeys and other animals in past years - SOME made him QUITE sick!
Acessable from this web page: wcs.org/home/science/wildlifehealthscience/2592/2606/
Or directly here http://wcs.org/media/general/mime-9766395601.pdf
Full Title:
Pathology of Fatal West Nile Virus Infections in Native and Exotic Birds during the 1999 Outbreak in New York City, New York
Excerpt:
During the late summer and early fall of 1999, an outbreak of viral encephalitis occurred in the northeastern United States, with most cases occurring in and around New York City, New York. The outbreak resulted in fatal neurologic disease in humans and a variety of native and exotic birds, (3–5) as well as some horses.17 The incidence of disease was particularly high among crows. Initially, the human cases were attributed to St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus,3 a mosquito- borne flavivirus that is endemic to the United States. SLE virus typically does not cause clinical disease in birds.Warning: This is an extensive report - if you want details on the 'Bronz Zoo' aspect of WNV this is it ...Later, West Nile virus (WNV), a related flavivirus never before identified in the western hemisphere, was shown to be the cause of disease in several birds that died following neurologic illness. (5,12) WNV was subsequently identified as the cause of infection in both the human (5) and equine (17) cases as well. Phylogenetic analysis of the virus associated with the US outbreak, WN-New York 1999, demonstrated it is closely related to a strain of WNV isolated from a sick goose in Israel in 1998. (12) Confirmed human and equine cases of WNV infection have been limited to the state of New York; however, infected birds and mosquitoes were also identified in Connecticut and New Jersey during the height of the outbreak.1,5 The possible recurrence and spread of WNV in the United States represents a serious potential public health concern.
...
Case histories
Between 10 August 1999 and 23 September 1999, 27 wild or exotic birds (24 birds at the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Park, Bronx, NY, and 3 birds at the Queens Wildlife Center, Queens, NY) died or were humanely euthanatized because of severe illness. Eight orders and 14 species of birds were involved.
I wanna see more shark-reporting; on-scene, live, from the beach and in the air - lots of questions to tourists; "Are you scared - WILL you go in the water?" from the press (FOX - are you listening?) ...
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