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June 09, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Less Lethal Cousin of Smallpox Arrives in the U.S.”

New York Times (www.nytimes.com) (06/09/03) P. A1; Altman, Lawrence K.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this weekend that monkeypox, a less-lethal member of the smallpox family, has been detected in Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois, with at least 23 cases reported.  All those infected had close or direct contact with sick prairie dogs, which may have caught the virus from another species in the exotic pet market, such as Gambian giant pouched rats imported from Africa.  Four of the patients have been hospitalized; the typical symptoms are fever, headaches, drenching sweats, dry cough, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and rashes of blisterlike pimples.  CDC epidemiologist Dr. Stephen M. Ostroff says that the speed in identifying the animals can help health officials get rid of them before monkeypox becomes endemic in the Americas.  The smallpox vaccination can protect people against monkeypox, although at least one person infected in this outbreak was immunized against smallpox before routine vaccination against the disease was stopped some 30 years ago.  The CDC issued the health alert about monkeypox because some of the cases had initially been mistaken as smallpox or chickenpox, and also because additional infections could occur from sick animals that were recently purchased.