Officials Scramble to Contain Monkeypox

The Washington Post ^ | June 9, 2003 | Rob Stein

[FairOpinion]

Health officials are investigating at least 29 suspected cases of people in three Midwestern states who may have been stricken in the outbreak so far, which state and federal health officials are urgently working to contain.

State and federal authorities are tracing about 200 animals that were distributed in 15 states by an exotic pet dealer in Illinois. The dealer sold rodents known as prairie dogs, which are believed to be the source of the outbreak.

In addition to trying to prevent more infections, officials are worried that the animals could spread the disease to wild rabbits and other indigenous creatures, allowing the virus to become entrenched in the United States. The last time a new disease became established in this country was in 1999, when the West Nile virus arrived. It has subsequently spread nationwide.

[FairOpinion]

With the prairie dogs having been distributed in 15 states already, it's not going to be easy to contain it. Add to this, that it takes 12 days before symptoms show up -- I wonder if people are contagious during that period. And of course hope they can get all the animals so it doesn't spread into the wild.

[FairOpinion]

ping

I think the officials are taking this very seriously.

[StatesEnemy]

Thumbs in a dike.

The microbes will always up the ante.

[AF68]

Why anyone would want a burrowing varmint as a pet is beyond my comprehension.

[aristeides]

The article denies that there has been human-to-human transmission in this country, but it sure sounds likely to me from this story that the 3-year-old's parents caught the disease from her.

Note how sick the 3-year-old got. That's consistent with what I've read elsewhere: that young children are the people most seriously affected by monkeypox.

[aristeides]

Prairie dogs tied to 3 more suspected monkeypox cases .

[Trust but Verify]

but it sure sounds likely to me from this story that the 3-year-old's parents caught the disease from her.

The parents probably handled the varmint, too. That's most likely how they got sick.

[tje]

I did what I could when I lived in Colorado, but one man with a 22-250 can only do so much....

[Judith Anne]

If I recall correctly, the 3 yo got a small bite from the animal. Then after she got sick, the mother got sick and was in fact in the hospital with her.

Again, if I recall correctly, this can be transmitted the same as smallpox--and that includes airborne.

Anyone, please correct me if I'm mistaken...

[aristeides]

Tests confirm 4 human cases of monkeypox.

[Free Trapper]

J.A.,you're correct from what I've read.

Even if all of these "new" diseases have shown up coincidentally,if any of them get a good foothold,just one or two more dropped into the mix on purpose(Tularemia?)........

[Prince Charles]

I'm trying to recall a passage from The Demon In The Freezer, by Richard Preston, in which he detailed how a group of Australian researchers used monkeypox (I think, or was it mousepox?) to genetically engineer a biological weapon, with not too much tinkering. It was trivially easy for them to do this.

Does anyone remember that passage from the book?

[CathyRyan]

Can we pick one main keyword so we can access all these articles using the keyword feature?

[Trust but Verify]

That doesn't mean the mother got sick while tending to her daughter in the hospital. They all had direct contact with the sick pd. They all got sick. In all other cases, only people with contact with the animal have gotten sick.

[Free Trapper]

What will work?

"Spooky Bugs" would probably only work for me.;o(

[Doc Savage]

Run! Run! Run for your life!!!!! If Monkeypox mutates with SARS will have MonkeySARS or SARSpox!!!!!!! Run! Run for your life!!!!! AAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

[iceskater]

I just bought that book this weekend but I haven't gotten far reading it at all. It'll be interesting to read this book with this monkeypox thing and SARS going on. West Nile is rearing its ugly head again. Too much going on.

[Damocles]

It was mousepox as I recall, and the scientists involved gentetically modified the virus to break through the immunization of healthy mice.

The effect was to render past immunizations useless, and the conclusion drawn was that smallpox could easily be engineered to break through that barrier in the human population.

[iceskater]

Now, there's a comforting thought....

[Xenalyte]

Monkeypox would be a great name for a band!