Posted on 06/13/2003 8:56:54 PM PDT by I_love_weather
Suspected monkeypox case investigated in Purchase area The owner and the location where the case was reported were not identified to protect the owner's anonymity.
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MAYFIELD, Ky.--The Purchase District Health Department said Thursday that state officials are investigating one suspected case of monkeypox in western Kentucky. Sharon Godec, nursing director for the department, said the animal that is suspected to be infected is being tested by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. She would not identify the owner or the location where the case was reported, she said, to protect the owner's anonymity.
Godec said she did not know how long it would take to get results of the test. Fish and Wildlife Resources officials were unavailable for comment Thursday night.
The Purchase District Health Department will become directly involved only if a human is infected with monkeypox, Godec said. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said 54 possible cases have been reported in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and New Jersey, though not all involve people.
One Wisconsin case involves a federal consumer safety inspector at a Milwaukee slaughterhouse and meat processing plant, U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Scott Cohen said. However, he added, the disease cannot be spread through contact with food.
The Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services announced Thursday that it is asking anyone who has had contact with a prairie dog, Gambian giant rat or other recently acquired exotic animals to seek medical attention if a fever, cough, rash or swollen lymph nodes develop within three weeks of contact. They also asked doctors who treat such symptoms in humans or animals to report the case immediately to the local health department.
Health services said species susceptible to the virus may include primates, rabbits and some rodents. Though monkeypox is not usually fatal, a skin rash, similar to, but less infectious than, smallpox may develop, health services said. The incubation period for humans and animals is about 12 days.
The Kentucky cabinet said that in May, a Milwaukee distributor sold prairie dogs to two nearby pet shops at an animal swap meet. The distributor acquired the infected prairie dogs, and a Gambian giant rat, from a northern Illinois distributor.
Denise Marshall, owner and manager of Neptune's Castle pet store on Broadway, is asking anyone who bought a prairie dog from her store since April 15 to contact her. She said the U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to collect as much information as possible about prairie dog sales in Kentucky to see if the monkeypox outbreak is isolated.
Marshall said her store has sold 12 prairie dogs and that eight owners have been contacted. Each of those prairie dogs was tested and shown to be free of disease. She said all of the prairie dogs her store has sold came from Bensenville, Ill., and not from the infected dealer in Villa Park, Ill. She said she is certain the other four prairie dogs are disease-free, as well.
Marshall said anyone who purchased a prairie dog from any other dealer may also contact her and she will forward their information to the USDA, as well.
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