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Hunting rope squirrels for food could be fuelling cases of monkeypox in the Congo basinResearchers probing risk factors for human cases of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a ‘hotspot’ of the disease, found that people living near dense forests favoured by rope squirrels are more likely to contract the virus. “Our finding... is consistent with the fact that rope squirrels are the only natural host that have been demonstrated to transmit the monkeypox virus directly to humans in Africa,” write Trevon Fuller and colleagues this month in EcoHealth. The study suggests that the scant resources available for...

AP: Feds Collect Giant Rats in Florida By MARGARET EBRAHIM, Associated Press Writer 3 hours ago As the rising sun danced across Florida's coastal waters, government workers in shorts and T-shirts knelt in a grassy island field and plucked wriggling rats from traps laid the night before. These weren't just any rats. They were 3-pound, 35-inch-long African behemoths. They squirmed as the workers, wearing protective gloves, removed green radio collars that had been tracking the rodents' movements. All 18 of the animals were carted away for research. Darin Carroll kept a watchful eye on that dawn mission at Florida's Grassy...

With all this fuss about Iran's nuclear weapons program (excuse me, nuclear power program for a country that's overflowing with oil), everyone seems to have forgotten that terrorism by small groups and not countries is probably our biggest threat. And judging by past behavior, launching a nuclear weapon is not as likely to occur as something else that can be done on a smaller, less expensive scale. The goal of this would not merely be to inflict mass murder, but panic and the potential economic upheavals or collapse that are so valued by the criminal Islamists. Enter Monkeypox Mohammed. Bioweapons...

Researchers at the U. S. Army laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick reported a major advance yesterday in the search for a safer smallpox vaccine. An experimental vaccine made from pieces of the live virus currently used as a smallpox vaccine protected monkeys against monkeypox, their version of the fatal illness. The protection was not absolute -- the animals got mildly ill and developed the characteristic pox rash -- but it was good enough to keep them from dying. The federal government currently vaccinates many members of the military against smallpox, a disease that was eradicated 26 years ago but...

I noticed a lot of questions that weren't answered in previous posts. I thought I would post an update as to answer some unanswered questions. My boyfriend, julian, and his girlfriend all contracted the disease. They ALL touched and played with the animal (prairie dog), as did I. They cannot recall a time where the animal scratched or bit them. They brought it to my work (pet store) where I had cleaned the animals eyes that were crusted shut and looked him over--The animal had, what felt like, scabs all over it's body. We thought it might have been allergic...

Study Finds Animal-Borne Diseases, Including West Nile, Mad Cow, Lyme Disease, and Monkeypox, 'Out Of Control' 8/5/03 11:00:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk and Health Reporters Contact: Laura Segal, 202-223-9870 x 278 or lsegal@tfah.org; Michael Earls, 202-223-9870 x 273 or mearls@tfah.org; both of the Trust for America's Health WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A report released today by Trust for America's Health (TFAH) found that despite the surge of animal-borne diseases threatening the health of Americans, the country lacks a concerted national approach to prevent and control these illnesses, which can impact humans, animals and the country's food...

Aids, the Ebola Virus, monkey-pox, and SARS are all diseases that probably started in wild animals and switched to humans.It now appears likely that the recent outbreak of SARS got its start from the close contact between Chinese animal merchants and their wares.The people of Guangdong Profince in southern China are famous for eating "everything with four legs except a table, everything that flies except an airplane, and everything that swims except a submarine," and support a brisk trade in cats, snakes, bats, dogs, civet cats, pangolins, and anything else hunters can get their hands on.People like the taste, but...

"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" _______________________________________________________ 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...

Prairie Dogs Are Euthanized Amid Fears Of Monkeypox By PATRICK HEALY ealth officials in Suffolk and Nassau Counties have begun euthanizing more than a dozen prairie dogs collected from their owners because of fears that the animals have been contaminated with monkeypox, a viral disease similar to smallpox. The euthanization orders, issued by the State Department of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, affect prairie dogs bought during the first three weeks of May from two Long Island pet stores: the Zeus Aquarium & Pet Supplies in Bay Shore, Suffolk County, which sold six of...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925952/posts Alert Issued as U.S. Monkeypox Cases Grow to 37     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/925554/posts?page=39#39 Officials Scramble to Contain Monkeypox   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925529/posts Medical Alert (Global SARS Response & Bioterror Preparedness)     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925177/posts West Nile virus crops up early     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924577/posts Identifying A Killer   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/922928/posts New kids' respiratory virusNews 24 (South Africa) ^           http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/925789/posts Germ research gets urgent     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/924937/posts MYSTERY DISEASE KILLS 19 INDIAN INFANTS     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/921908/posts Researchers Discover Possible Diagnosis, Treatment, Vaccine For Mad Cow, Prion Diseases   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/916640/posts Cats Likely Source of SARS, Say Researchers (Chinese delicacy likely source of...

<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An outbreak of monkeypox that has affected 81 people has been traced to a giant Gambian rat and assorted other small rodents imported as pets from Africa, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday.</p> <p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed monkeypox infection in one Gambian giant rat, three dormice, and two rope squirrels shipped to the United States in April.</p> <p>"This shipment is believed to be the source of the current U.S. outbreak of monkeypox," the CDC said in a statement.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An estimated 87 people in the United States have caught monkeypox, mostly from infected pet prairie dogs, and about 20 have taken the smallpox vaccine to try to protect themselves, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said her agency and local health officials were investigating the response to the outbreak, which some have criticized as too slow. Monkeypox broke out in the U.S. Midwest in early May, but the CDC was not notified until June 4 and did not report it publicly until June 7. "I think...

In a world that is getting smaller and more crowded, where people -- and animals -- can travel around the globe in a matter of hours, experts say outbreaks of diseases like monkeypox, SARS and West Nile virus will continue to increase. "This is part of a new normal of emerging infectious diseases," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding. "This is a global community" and the recent outbreaks "illustrate the tendency for a problem in one corner of the world to emerge as a problem in another corner of the world." Monkeypox, which first appeared in the Western Hemisphere last month,...

"As the remorselessly cold, unblinking optical eye of the PRAIRIE POODLE PUNISHER scanned the distant Montana horizon, its cross-hairs acquired a likely target of opportunity. Range and cross-wind were estimated and compensated for and with the precision born of countless repetition, the elegant aiming device settled down in preparation to vaporize another varmint vermin."

Press Releases Customs and Border Protection Enforce CDC Embargo to Prevent Spread of Monkeypox Virus For Immediate Release Bureau of Customs and Border Protection June 13, 2003 Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce the embargo on importation of all rodents from Africa, in an effort to prevent further spread of the monkeypox virus in the U.S. The embargo was imposed because at least six different species of potentially infected rodents have been implicated in the current outbreak of monkeypox...

State agriculture officials on Friday temporarily banned the transportation of six more animal species - including rabbits - to stop the potential spread of monkeypox into Michigan. Imports of prairie dogs and Gambian rats were banned Wednesday. The order issued Friday added brush-tailed porcupines, dormice, rope squirrels, striped mice, tree squirrels and rabbits to the embargo list. "Although we have not confirmed monkeypox illness in people in Michigan, we have several situations we are investigating," said Janet Olszew-ski, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health. Under the order, the animals "cannot be transported, displayed, sold or in any other...

Wis. Workers Probably Avoided Monkeypox Fri Jun 13, 9:33 PM ET Add Health - AP to My Yahoo! By JR ROSS, Associated Press Writer MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin officials said Friday it is unlikely that two health care workers who fell ill after treating patients with the monkeypox virus were infected with the disease. The cases would have been the first known U.S. human-to-human transmissions of the virus. Monkeypox, a disease related to smallpox but less lethal, appeared in the country for the first time when at least a dozen people had contact in recent weeks with infected pet prairie...

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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff Report -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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...

CHICAGO -- State officials have tracked down all but two prairie dogs sold to Illinois buyers by a suburban Chicago business where the weeklong outbreak of monkeypox originated, an Agriculture Department spokesman said Friday. Spokesman Jeff Squibb said officials have located two of four Gambian giant rats -- the animal believed to have infected the prairie dogs with monkeypox -- sold within Illinois by the same business. He said they continue to search for the other two, which were given away by the buyer. In all, Squibb said officials have tracked down 19 of 21 prairie dogs sold within Illinois...

WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- The recent outbreak of monkeypox in the United States and the delay in alerting healthcare personnel to its spread highlights the need for a national communications system to alert physicians and public health officials rapidly about bioterrorist attacks or emerging diseases such as SARS and West Nile virus. Over the past several weeks, dozens of Americans might have been infected with monkeypox –- a close but less-deadly cousin of smallpox -- in its first outbreak in the Western Hemisphere. Doctors in Wisconsin saw the first patient May 22 when a 4-year-old girl developed a rash...

<p>The response of public health authorities to the monkeypox outbreak is reason for both hope and concern. Even as health authorities work to control the disease, policy-makers must heed the lessons this outbreak has for the emergence of other pox-like illnesses.</p>

CHICAGO - Health officials investigating an outbreak of monkeypox that apparently spread from pet prairie dogs to people in three Midwestern states said Monday the number of possible cases has risen to at least 40. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported four confirmed human cases Monday of monkeypox, a smallpox-related virus that has never before appeared in the Western Hemisphere. Seven people have been hospitalized; no one has died. Steve Ostroff, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases, said he expects the numbers to rise as human and animal samples are tested. But Ostroff said...

For the first time in the United States, monkeypox may have spread from person-to-person. A southeastern Wisconsin health care worker may have contracted monkeypox from a human patient, state epidemiologist Jeff Davis said. MONKEYPOX Afraid Of Monkeypox? Fact Sheet CDC Info. WHO Info. Guidelines For Vets, Pet Owners Previously, U.S. patients with monkeypox contracted the disease from infected animals. Davis declined to identify the health care worker or where the worker was located. He said health officials and scientists haven't confirmed the presence of the monkeypox virus in the worker, but they suspect it and are still testing tissue specimens....

PRINT THIS STORY | E-MAIL THIS STORY U.S. bans prairie dog sale, trade Smallpox vaccine recommended to control spread of exotic disease By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press June 12, 2003 ATLANTA - The U.S. government banned the sale of prairie dogs, prohibited the importation of African rodents and recommended smallpox shots Wednesday for people exposed to monkeypox, the exotic African disease that has spread from pet prairie dogs to humans. The government's aggressive response to the disease came the same day that the federal investigation of the monkeypox outbreak was expanded to eight more states, including Tennessee, bringing the total...

Tue Jun 10,10:46 AM ET Schyan Kautzer, 3, of Dorchester, Wis. shows her right index finger Monday June 9, 2003, where she was bitten by a pet prairie dog infected with monkeypox. Schyan Kautzer was the first case of the virus identified. The quarantine of the Kautzer home and five-acre hobby farm was ordered last Friday. (AP Photo/ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mary Jo Walicki)

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. health authorities on Wednesday recommended smallpox vaccinations for anyone exposed to "monkeypox" either from infected pets or from the roughly 63 human cases, all but one in the U.S. Midwest. The U.S. government also banned the importation or trade of African rodents, including Gambian rats believed to be the original source of the smallpox-like illness previously unseen in the Western Hemisphere, said David Fleming, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "I'm confident that everything that can be done is being done to prevent the spread of this virus," Fleming told...

It's a new health threat that is setting off a major alarm. Dozens of cases of Monkeypox have been reported in three midwestern states. Health officials are investigating a suspected case of the virus in an eleven-year-old in New Jersey. Health investigators have also had their eye on Tennessee. As environments change and world travel and trade increase, germs once confined to animals often spread to human populations. The U-S cases of Monkeypox started when an infected rat passed on the disease to prairie dogs at an exotic pet store in Chicago. ...snip...The original source of the U-S invasion is...

ATLANTA - The U.S. government banned the sale of prairie dogs, prohibited the importation of African rodents and recommended smallpox shots Wednesday for people exposed to monkeypox, the exotic African disease that has spread from pet prairie dogs to humans. The smallpox vaccine can prevent monkeypox up to two weeks after exposure to the virus, but is most effective in the first four days. "We're optimistic we can deliver the vaccine to these people in time to do good," said Dr. David Fleming, deputy director for Public Health and Science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news -...

Monkeypox cases 'will go up' June 11, 2003 BY DAN ROZEK, Staff Reporter As more suspected human cases of monkeypox virus were reported in Illinois, state officials said Tuesday they've found only about half of the estimated 130 prairie dogs sold by the Villa Park dealer whose animals may be linked to the nation's first outbreak of the rare African disease. And the illness, which had been limited to Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, may have turned up in a new state as New Jersey health officials said an 11-year-old boy there apparently has been sickened by the virus. But the...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey health officials were awaiting test results Tuesday to determine if a child from the state is infected with monkeypox. The 11-year-old boy came into contact with a pair of prairie dogs while visiting a family friend in a Midwestern state where the infection has spread, state officials said. Results on blood and lesion samples from the boy sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected in several days. Nationally, health officials were working to contain the spread of the monkeypox virus, which is related to smallpox and apparently has never before...

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...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The monkeypox outbreak illustrates a growing problem: Exotic animals give exotic diseases to people who get too close, a trend that some medical specialists call a serious public health threat. Such diseases can become a threat not just to the people who buy and sell exotic pets, but to the general public if they spread to native animals and become established in the United States. Federal health officials are working frantically to ensure doesn't happen with monkeypox. "This is a harbinger of things to come," warns Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, who advises the government...

Health officials are concerned that monkeypox, a little-known disease from African rain forests that has infected some Midwesterners could wreak havoc now that it has entered new territory. "Whenever you hear about a new virus being introduced into an ecosystem where it's not been present before, you have to be very, very concerned about the public health threat," Dr. Stephen Ostroff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Authorities in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana are investigating at least 33 possible cases of monkeypox among people who have come into contact with prairie dogs. The patients are recovering,...

The Russians worked with monkeypox virus, a close cousin to smallpox, in their bioweapons program and it is possible terrorists could use it in a biological attack against the United States, scientists and former United Nations weapons inspectors told United Press International. Although some biological weapons experts are concerned with the possibility of terrorists using another smallpox-related virus called camelpox, which Iraq has admitted to researching, Mark Buller, a biologist at Saint Louis University who conducts research on smallpox vaccines, said he is more concerned about monkeypox. Buller's concern stems from the fact that monkeypox, unlike camelpox, causes mortality in...

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...

Monkeypox Virus Spreads Across Upper Midwest Officials Warn Public To Avoid Ill Prairie Dogs POSTED: 10:09 a.m. EDT June 9, 2003 Tests have confirmed that the disease that has sickened pet prairie dogs and numerous humans is the monkeypox virus. MONKEYPOX CDC Info.WHO Info.Guidelines For Vets, Pet Owners And it's spreading across the upper Midwest, causing an outbreak of rashes, fevers and chills in people. Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the prairie dogs likely were infected by a giant Gambian rat at a suburban Chicago pet distributor. Health officials have confirmed that four Wisconsin people...

Monkeypox virus underscores danger of having exotic pets Two new cases of illness confirmed By MARILYNN MARCHIONE and SARAH CARR mmarchione@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: June 8, 2003 The human monkeypox outbreak, likely spread by prairie dogs via imported African rats, is the latest example of a danger that health officials have warned of for years: Exotic pets often bring exotic health threats. Deadly infections, unusual injuries and people getting bored with or overwhelmed by owning such pets and releasing them into the wild have been reported, health and agriculture officials say. Importing super-exotic pets into the United States, such as Gambian...

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...

Monkeypox, a viral disease related to smallpox but less infectious and deadly, has been detected for the first time in the Western Hemisphere. Three Midwestern states, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, reported at least 19 monkeypox cases over the weekend, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Wisconsin reported the vast majority, 17, with Illinois and Indiana reporting one each. The patients ranged in age from 4 to 48 years, and all had had contact with direct or close contact with ill prairie dogs, which have become a common household pet. Several patients work for veterinarians or pet stores that...

Health Officials First Feared Prairie Dog Sickness in Midwest Was Smallpox Outbreak The Associated Press MADISON, Wis. June 8 — Doctors initially feared a smallpox outbreak as they began seeing cases of a mysterious disease that has spread to at least 19 people who came into contact with pet prairie dogs in the Midwest, health officials said Sunday. The symptoms were alarmingly similar fever, chills, rashes and swollen lymph nodes, said Milwaukee's health commissioner, Dr. Seth Foldy. It was when the prairie dog connection surfaced that they knew it must be something else. "We asked the question but discounted it...

At least 19 people in three Midwestern states have contracted a disease related to smallpox, marking the first outbreak of the life-threatening illness in the United States, federal heath officials said yesterday. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, concerned that the illness could spread, issued a nationwide alert to doctors and public health officials to be on the lookout for more cases. "We have an outbreak," said James Hughes, director of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta. "I'd like to keep it relatively small. I don't want any more cases. We're doing everything we can...

<p>Wisconsin health officials ordered a ban Friday on the sale, importation and display of prairie dogs after a dozen people were sickened from exposure to the animals.</p> <p>Health officials said all 12 people in Wisconsin had recovered or were getting better, although three remained in a suburban Milwaukee hospital Friday in satisfactory condition. Two other people were sickened in Illinois.</p>

Infected prairie dogs traced to Villa Park distributor June 8, 2003 BY COURTNEY K. WADE Staff Reporter A distributor in suburban Chicago appears to be the source for a smallpox-related virus spreading from pet prairie dogs to people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday. The virus is believed to be transmitted to humans by infected prairie dogs and Gambian rats. This is the first time the virus, similar to monkeypox common in Africa, has been found in the Western hemisphere. By Saturday, Wisconsin reported 17 human cases, mostly affecting residents in...

By The Associated Press (6/07/03 - MADISON, WI) — A virus related to smallpox that has never been detected in the Western Hemisphere may be the cause of a mysterious disease spreading from pet prairie dogs to people across the upper Midwest, health officials said Saturday. Sign up for free E-witness News Arsenal of weapons found in girl's bedroom; four teens arrested Watch for construction closures on Houston roads this weekend Fire erupts at plant on Ship Channel Driver flees scene after fiery accident kills his passenger Argument in strip center parking lot turns into deadly shooting Three-alarm strip center...