Laboratory tests have confirmed an outbreak of monkeypox in the United States. By 16 June nine cases had been confirmed and more than 80 were under investigation.
Monkeypox is a rare viral disease that is allied to smallpox but is less lethal and that occurs mostly in central and western Africa. It is called monkeypox because it was first found in 1958 in laboratory monkeys.
Early in June at least 20 cases from three midwestern states were reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Within two weeks 82 cases were under investigation in five states.
Of the 82, Wisconsin reported 34, Indiana 26, Illinois 19, Ohio two and Missouri one. Two of the Wisconsin cases were Steve and Tammy Kautzer from Dorchester, who are pictured above with their daughter Schyan and their prairie dog Chuckles. Ten patients were admitted to hospital. No deaths have been reported. This is the first outbreak of monkeypox in the United States.
The source of the current outbreak may be an exotic pet dealer in suburban Chicago who housed prairie dogs with a Gambian giant rat thought to be the primary source of infection.
The prairie dogs are rodents that are popular as exotic pets and sold mainly in the midwestern states. Most of the infected people got sick after having contact with pet prairie dogs that were sick with monkeypox. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a clinical profile for monkeypox.
About 12 days after infection patients get a fever, headache, muscle aches, and backache. Their lymph nodes swell, and they feel tired. From one to three days after the fever starts they get a rash.
The rash, which develops into raised bumps filled with fluid, often starts on the face and spreads but can start on other parts of the body too. The bumps go through several stages before they get crusty, scab over, and fall off. The illness usually last two to four weeks.
The federal government is making smallpox vaccine available to people exposed to an infected animal, as well as to health workers investigating monkeypox outbreaks or who are involved in the care of infected people or animals.
Studies in Africa have shown that smallpox vaccine is about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. The federal government has also banned the sale and distribution of prairie dogs in the United States and prohibited the import of all rodents from Africa.
Information on the outbreak is at www.cdc.gov