Posted on 07/30/2003 4:22:41 PM PDT by Shermy
"Exotic animal dealer who had monkeypox has Q fever - But S. Milwaukee man probably caught rare, flu-like ailment while inspecting cows, not selling pets"
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The South Milwaukee pet dealer at the center of the monkeypox outbreak has now been diagnosed with a second rare animal-borne disease: Q fever, which he likely got from his job as a federal meat inspector.
He also still has four prairie dogs that he refuses to euthanize even though public health officials want him to in the interest of preventing future monkeypox infections.
Scott Knapp, owner of SK Exotics, disclosed his new illness Tuesday in an interview. Although it's bad luck to get two highly unusual animal diseases, Knapp said he was relieved the new one involves a more mundane source than the one that caused monkeypox.
"I got this from cows," he said. "I want the pressure taken off the exotic pets."
Last month's outbreak of monkeypox cases was the first in humans in the Western Hemisphere. The first cases were diagnosed in Wisconsin in people who bought prairie dogs from Knapp. He bought them from an Illinois distributor that housed them with imported rodents from Africa, where monkeypox is known to occur.
As of Tuesday, 72 cases of monkeypox were being investigated in six states, including 39 in Wisconsin.
Similar to anthrax Q fever has long been known as a disease that can spread to people from infected cattle, sheep or other livestock, and most cases involve people who have occupational exposure to animals, as Knapp does.
Like anthrax, Q fever is caused by a bacterium that can form spores and can live for years in soil or dust, causes a pneumonia-like illness when inhaled, is treated with antibiotics, and doesn't generally spread person to person.
Only eight cases have been diagnosed in Wisconsin since 1980, and only 20 to 25 occur nationwide each year.
"Q fever is not common, period," said Jim Kazmierczak, Wisconsin's public health veterinarian.
National statistics on it started to be collected only in 2000, and that's because the germ is considered a potential bioterrorism weapon because it can be aerosolized and cause pneumonia.
Became ill in April Knapp actually got sick with Q fever in mid-April, before he acquired the prairie dogs in early May that sparked the monkeypox outbreak.
"I was very sick. I had a high fever of 104.6. I was coughing to the point where I was going to pass out," he said.
Doctors initially diagnosed him with pneumonia, but an infectious disease specialist ordered tests for other diseases caused by animal germs, including Q fever, because of Knapp's job as a USDA consumer safety inspector at the Emmpak slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant.
The Q fever test came back positive last week, said Mary Beth Graham, an infectious diseases expert at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Wauwatosa and the Medical College of Wisconsin who took over Knapp's care after he was diagnosed with monkeypox.
She and federal officials said there is no danger to the food supply from Knapp's illnesses because monkeypox and Q fever aren't spread through food.
"The food supply was more of a risk to him" than the other way around, Graham said.
Knapp still has a cough and fatigue from the Q fever and must take antibiotics indefinitely to prevent the infection from becoming chronic or causing long-term problems.
Half of people who get Q fever don't even get sick. In others, it mimics a severe case of flu. Of those who get sick, 30% to 50% develop pneumonia and 1% to 2% die.
Some people develop long-lasting liver or heart problems, and Knapp said he may need preventive antibiotics for as long as two to three years to prevent such complications.
Still in quarantine Meanwhile, he continues to talk with state health and agriculture officials about the four prairie dogs he keeps quarantined in glass aquariums. State and federal officials want any animals connected with the monkeypox outbreak to be euthanized because so little is known about the disease and its potential to recur.
"There are a lot of ifs, and one of the ifs is the uncertainty about whether recovered animals may still harbor the virus" and can cause new infections, Kazmierczak said.
"Our position is still that we would want these animals dead, but if he wants to keep them under quarantine, he can," said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Knapp said he refuses to kill healthy animals.
"I have a greater chance of being a long-term carrier" than the prairie dogs do, he said. "I think they're actually the scapegoat right now."
Fever Profile
Q fever is a disease that people can get from livestock, such as cattle, sheep and goats. It's rare - only eight cases have been reported in Wisconsin since 1980, and only about two dozen cases occur in the United States each year. Infections usually involve people who work with livestock or animal waste. Q Fever Is
Caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii, a germ that, like anthrax, forms spores and can live for years in dust or soil. Transmitted when people breathe in the germ, often in spore form. It's rarely spread person to person. Not symptomatic in half of people who get it. The rest get an illness like severe flu, starting with a high fever lasting one to two weeks, severe headache, muscle aches, confusion, chills, sweats, sore throat, dry cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and chest pain. Of those who get sick, 30% to 50% develop pneumonia, and 1% to 2% die. Some people develop long-lasting liver or heart problems. Treated with antibiotics. Considered a potential bioterrorism weapon because of its potential to be aerosolized, like anthrax.
Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
Actually, I found it kind of curious that while I was in the Army, the Veterinary Corps was the proponent for much of the industrial / occupational / field hygiene, and do the inspections in these areas.
Shermy did Iraq ever try to convert Q fever into a bio weapon?
Oh brother ... break out the mosquite netting and call the wagon for this guy ...
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