Alert Issued as U.S. Monkeypox Cases Grow to 37

Reuters ^ | Michael Conlon

[dead]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Officials in three states tried on Monday to track down pet prairie dogs believed spreading "monkeypox," a smallpox-like illness not seen before in the Western Hemisphere that may have infected 37 people.

Only six of the victims were being treated in hospitals, officials said, and they were expected to recover with bed rest. The disease, caused by monkeypox virus, is not believed to spread person-to-person.

But in light of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome scare and an approaching summer season when mosquito-borne West Nile virus was likely to again pose a deadly threat, health officials were moving to attack the newly diagnosed problem.

Stephen Ostroff of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Infection, said there were 33 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox under investigation. Locally, officials listed more -- 22 in Wisconsin, 10 in Indiana and five in Illinois.

"We don't know how many animals or humans have been involved and we don't know the scope of the problem," Ostroff told reporters in Atlanta.

UNHEALED LESIONS

He said only people with unhealed lesions need to be quarantined and the infection does not appear to be as contagious as smallpox, showing no signs of spreading from person to person.

"We do not have evidence of person-to-person transmission, although we are looking at that possibility," said Ostroff. He advised people to consult a veterinarian or local health officials if they owned or had been exposed to a sick prairie dog, rabbit or Gambian giant rat.

It is believed the disease spread from Gambian rats imported from Africa as exotic pets. It spread from there to prairie dogs, members of the squirrel family that live in the dry plains from Texas north to Canada and which have been rescued from exterminators for use as pets.

Phil Moberly, co-owner of a pet store in the Chicago suburbs where some of the infected prairie dogs were believed to have become infected, said on Monday he had bought the apparently infected rats in question from a breeder in Texas without knowing they were ill.

SEARCH OF PRAIRIE DOGS

Indiana officials say they are trying to track down 31 individuals or businesses believed to have purchased prairie dogs from Moberly's store since April 15. Similar efforts were under way in the other two states.

In addition some of the animals may have changed hands during a swap meet in Wisconsin, where most of the cases of illness have been reported.

Mark Wegner, a communicable disease expert with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, said the disease is most likely being spread when people are scratched or bitten while handling the prairie dogs.

Smallpox has been eradicated worldwide and children born after 1980 have not been vaccinated against it. Smallpox vaccinations, however, offer protection against monkeypox, meaning that adults who were vaccinated earlier are most likely to have immunity against it.

Children, however, are at risk. In Africa, the mortality rate for young children can be as high as 10 percent.

[dead]

This photo from the Center for Disease Control shows a child's infected finger two weeks after being bitten by a monkeypox infected prairie dog on May 13, 2003 in Dorchester, WI. The child was released after a one-week stay in a hospital on May 29 following treatment, according to the CDC. Public health officials in three states tried on June 9 to track down pet prairie dogs believed spreading a smallpox-like illness, not seen before in the Western Hemisphere, that may have infected 33 people. (Center For Disease Control via Reuters)

[Dog]

I thought they had this contained ???

[berserker]

Jill Cox, a member of the animal care staff at the Hogle Zoo, shows off their giant Gambian rat Monday, June 9, 2003, in Salt Lake City. Tests have confirmed that four people in Wisconsin contracted the monkeypox virus after coming into close contact with pet prairie dogs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday the prairie dogs likely were infected with the virus by a giant Gambian rat, which is indigenous to Africa, at a Chicago-area pet distributor. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

[Calpernia]

>>>>It is believed the disease spread from Gambian rats imported from Africa as exotic pets. It spread from there to prairie dogs, members of the squirrel family that live in the dry plains from Texas north to Canada and which have been rescued from exterminators for use as pets.

Seems it is easy to get these rats here in the states. I wonder how many more infected ones will be found

[TBall]

I wonder what happens if monkey pox gets to the wild prairie dog population?

[dead]

I don't know why anybody would have these rat-looking things for pets. Same goes for rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and cats.

[Calpernia]

Then the chain reaction begins. Birds will eat the infected prairie dogs, carry the disease elsewhere, who eats who after that.....

CDC can say anything they want NOW about whether it is transimittable human to human; but they don't know, yet.

[aristeides]

I wonder what happens if monkeypox gets to the squirrel and rabbit populations.

[Judith Anne]

Bump for a good question.

[backhoe]

I have started appending reports of "any weird disease" here at what started as a SARS post:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/892243/posts

[riri]

I don't know why anybody would have these rat-looking things for pets. Same goes for rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and cats

I agree. Now when I look at an animal like that, I think DISEASE VECTOR.

[TBall]

Yeah, I'm wondering if mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas will be carriers? Will my dog be OK?

[aristeides]

If we were still vaccinated against smallpox, this is one disease we would not have to worry about.

[aristeides]

I don't think insects and the like carry any of the orthopox diseases.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for adding palehorse to the keyword list.

[riri]

I think I just missed the smallpox as I was born in '69. I have no scar and my parents were always, well, not up on these things.

As it was I was missing a measles shot when I started college. I was busy and didn't have the time to mess with it and I just kinda fudged the record a bit

I was a kid. Cut me some slack.

[TBall]

Thanks, that is good news.

[45Auto]

One solution is at hand: Varmint Al, fellow Freeper:

Varmint Al

[Marie]

Indiana officials say they are trying to track down 31 individuals or businesses believed to have purchased prairie dogs from Moberly's store since April 15.

April 15. That's a LOT of time as far as disease containment goes. When was the first case diagnosed? I can't believe everybody has had these pets for this long and they all started getting sick just now.

[dc-zoo]

There's just too many new diseases coming one after another. Very strange turn of events. Perilous times indeed.

[TBall]

Maybe this monkey pox thing will speed up the timetable for small pox vaccinations.

[ex-Texan]

" . . . Same goes for . . . cats . . .!

LOLOLOLOLOLOL !

[dc-zoo]

Yes, I'm worried about people including those in my family that were not around during the 50's to get the smallpox vaccine.

[Paleo Conservative]

Maybe this monkey pox thing will speed up the timetable for small pox vaccinations.

I'd rather have the safer smallpox vaccine developed by the Germans in the 1960s than the conventional smallpox vaccine. Unless you are near the outbreak I doubt the risks of the conventional vaccinia vaccine are worth while for protection against monkeypox. Of course in if there were an actual outbreak of smallpox, I would want the proven standard vaccines.

[TBall]

People should be able to decide the risks and choose for themselves. I'd get the conventional vaccinia vaccine if made available. On the other hand, I choose not to allow my dentist to give me any more floride treatments. I noticed that I would always get a cavity a few months after one of those stupid floride treatments.

[Comanche]

Does not anything good come from Africa? I guess no one has been killed by a diamond. Quarrantine the whole continent.

[CathyRyan]

I guess no one has been killed by a diamond.

I think there are a few men that would disagree with you on that... ;)

[Domestic Church]

Just read this off of sarsonline:

New SARS fears in T.O.

Jun. 9, 2003

Provided by: Canadian Press Written by: HELEN BRANSWELL

TORONTO (CP) -- An unexplained cluster of pneumonias among dialysis patients at a hospital about an hour's drive east of Toronto has Ontario's SARS containment team worried about the possibility of a new outbreak of the disease.

Fourteen people who receive dialysis at the Whitby site of the Lakeridge Health Centre have come down with pneumonia and are under investigation as possible SARS patients, said Dr. James Young, Ontario's commissioner of public security.

While doctors perform tests to see if there might be another cause for their illness, the patients are in respiratory isolation and public health will trace and place in quarantine their contacts, Young said.

"It's SARS until proven otherwise," he said Monday.

"Hopefully it isn't and hopefully it's something that's eminently treatable with all of the people. But there's no other way in this day and age that you can treat it other than to say it's SARS until proven otherwise."

One of Toronto's leading SARS authorities had little doubt, however, that this was the province's latest bout with the pernicious disease.

"It's hard to imagine what else it could be," said Dr. Donald Low, the senior medical member to the SARS containment team. Low had heard rumours of the possible new cluster, but nonetheless was taken aback by its size. "Oh, God, 14?" he exclaimed? "Boy oh boy." "It doesn't bode well for the number of cases that we'll expect to see (in coming days)."

The hospital has been effectively moved to a Level 3 designation, indicating the highest level of SARS contamination. That designation puts all sorts of restrictions on admissions and transfers of patients as well as the ability of staff to work at other facilities.

A release on the facility's Web site said the Whitby facility of Lakeridge Health is experiencing "a respiratory outbreak which is non-SARS related." But experts suggest at this point in the greater Toronto area, any cluster of pneumonias has to set off alarm bells in the system.

Further, Low suggested that if this is SARS, this outbreak has been under way for awhile. It's unlikely that 14 people were all infected by the same person, he said.

"This number of people suggests that one person has infected three or four and those three or four have infected another three and four," said Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

"So when you're getting out to a second and third generation, then you're concerned about people that have already left and gone to other places," he said, referring to the possibility undetected SARS patients could slip into other area hospitals and spark new waves of infection.

Young said he hopes the pneumonias prove not to be SARS-related, but admits he's concerned. "Oh course I'm worried. Any time I hear the word 'cluster' and a group now, of course I get worried. I hope to be relieved of that worry soon." Young said he learned about the suspicious pneumonias on Saturday.

Efforts are under way to determine how the patients could have contracted SARS, if indeed they have the disease. No epidemiologic or "epi" link to known SARS cases has yet been identified for the group.

An epi link is needed to officially diagnose a probable or suspect case of SARS. But the experience in Toronto's second SARS outbreak showed officials the early lack of an epi link is no guarantee a case isn't SARS.

The current outbreak was sparked after officials at North York General Hospital, who were alerted to suspicious pneumonias by worried nurses, decided the patients couldn't be suffering from SARS because they couldn't discover a link to prior cases.

As a consequence, the disease festered among patients in the orthopedic ward for weeks before eventually infecting staff. Infected patients transferred from the facility took the disease to several other hospitals in Toronto.

On a related matter, Young acknowledged he and provincial medical officer of health Dr. Colin D'Cunha sent a memorandum to all acute care hospitals in the area over the weekend reminding them to comply with provincial directives aimed at stopping the spread of SARS within health-care settings.

The memo followed on the heels of Friday's announcement of a potential exposure of newborns, their mothers and roughly 100 health-care workers on Mount Sinai Hospital's obstetrics unit when a medical student came down with SARS hours after finishing a shift last Wednesday.

The Ontario Nurses' Association complained the hospital had breached provincial directives requiring staff in all patient care areas to be suited up in protective gowns and masks.

Low defended his hospital, saying the directives issued May 31 provided some leeway for staff working in low risk areas such as obstetrics.

But Young said the purpose of the memo was to clarify that as far as the province is concerned, there is no room for hospital-by-hospital interpretation of the rules. The directives are to be applied across the board.

Young acknowledged the rule on gowning and masking in all patient care areas may seem like an over-reaction, but he insisted the pernicious nature of the virus requires such extraordinary caution. The memo also instructed hospitals to report any and all possible cases of SARS to the province immediately. Young said there have been cases where hospitals have delayed reporting cases as they conducted their own investigations.

[Beck_isright]

Nothing to fear here people, the same people protecting us from SARS are in charge. Move along. </sarcasm lesioned off

[Domestic Church]

" I noticed that I would always get a cavity a few months after one of those stupid floride treatments."

You too? Check this old thread...

http://www.freeRepublic.com/forum/a3aa9893f05aa.htm

[Milwaukee_Guy]

The head of Milwaukee's Health Department made 400,000 people sick from the cryptosporidium outbreak a few years ago.

I feel real good about this monkeypox thing right now. Not!

[Calpernia]

Bump to reference post 11 by backhoe

[NY.SS-Bar9]

Same goes for rats, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and cats.

Hey, watch the cat thing buddy!

[Paleo Conservative]

People should be able to decide the risks and choose for themselves.

Absolutely. Both the conventional vaccinia and Bavarian Nordic MVA smallpox vaccines should be commercially available. Considering I and several relatives have problems with eczema, I would prefer to get an attenuated vaccine unless there is an actual smallpox outbreak.

[Calpernia]

That was FUNNY!

[Calpernia]

Yes, my cats bring me lots of the other mentioned rodents. DEAD (pun intended :) )

[_Jim]

the same people protecting us from SARS are in charge

AND your point is?

I mean, are we DROWNING in SARS cases?

(I swear, some people just don't get it ...)

[PoorMuttly]

A pox on your monkey.

[Beck_isright]

"I mean, are we DROWNING in SARS cases?"

No idea. Are you willing to defend the voracity of the SARS reports after the nations suffering deaths covered it up for months? Or are you one of those people that believe in the tooth fairy and "government honesty"?

[_Jim]

Previous Q: Are we drowning in SARS cases

Answer: No idea.

Then, get a clue, we aren't. Your point is moot.

[IYAAYAS]

Have you made it to the monkey threads yet?

[_Jim]

LOL ... WHICH monkey threads: 'the pox' or the creationists?

[IYAAYAS]

You're needed on the pox threads, your wisdom would balance things a bit.

[_Jim]

I don't see the idiocy getting too far out of hand yet - let some more junior members take their stab at applying logic, reason and the applicable facts for a bit ...

[blam]

""It's SARS until proven otherwise," he said Monday."

We have another unidentified 'cluster' in the making?

[vetvetdoug]

That looks a lot like Orf, a goat pox, that infects humans. Whenever I see a goat with a number of circular lesions around the mouth I get the gloves out and handle with care. Orf is a poxvirus and is painful at the area of the localized lesion but hasn't the pathogenicity of monkey pox. I believe the USDA, APHIS, and the State veterinary agencies are likely on this thing with a vengence. Look to see a rash of significant fines and animal confiscations centered on exotic animal traffickers. It is about time because the trade in exotic pets has been out of control for about ten years.

[IYAAYAS]

At least now when you show up I'll know the idiocy has gotten out of hand.

[IYAAYAS]

It's not SARS, there's no "epi-link". I'd lol if it weren't so damn sad.

[Beck_isright]

Prove it one way or another. You can't, I can't. Your point is equally as moot. Please, go apologize for some federal union somewhere. They could use more apologists for government bungling.