Natural Health Newsletter

Randall Neustaedter OMD 

Monkeypox trouble

Monkeypox, a close relative of smallpox, has invaded the United States for the first time. The CDC suspects that a Gambian rat from Africa infected prairie dogs sold through exotic animal distributors to pet stores and then kept as pets. The prairie dogs apparently have infected their human owners and also pet rabbits. The media is pretending that monkeypox cannot be spread between humans, which is not true. Monkeypox is definitely contagious in humans, although experts suspect that person-to-person transmission would not sustain monkeypox in humans without repeated reintroduction from infected animals. The CDC recommends that any suspected or confirmed humans with monkeypox be placed in isolation, preferably in a negative pressure environment to prevent spread to others, and health care workers observe extreme precautions including the use of gown, gloves, googles, and a certified filtering respirator. The symptoms are the same as smallpox: fever, severe headache, muscle aches, cough, rashes, lymph node enlargement, and scarring lesions on the skin.

Monkeypox was discovered in 1970 and named that because the virus resembled a pox virus found in captive monkeys in 1958. Monkeypox exists in rainforest villages of central and western Africa, where it is transferred through person-to-person contact. It causes the same symptoms as smallpox, and differs from smallpox virus only in its nucleotide sequences. In 1996, 71 cases were reported in a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) with four deaths (5 percent of cases). In one small village of 346 inhabitants, 42 cases were reported, including three deaths (7 percent of cases). Transmission commonly occurred through squirrels and Gambian rats.

As of today there are 30 confirmed cases in the Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana), up from 19 cases reported yesterday, 17 of which were in Milwaukee. The first case was discovered on May 16 in a three-year-old girl in Marshfield, Wisconsin. The girl’s family had purchased two prairie dogs from a distributor in Villa Park, Illinois. The exotic pet dealer also became ill.

The CDC is claiming that the smallpox vaccine will prevent monkeypox, but this is questionable, and has never been proven. A study conducted in the 1980s suggested that the smallpox (vaccinia) vaccine might have a protective effect. This conclusion was based on the attack rate in individuals with and without vaccination scars*. In a survey conducted in 1997 of people previously infected with monkeypox, over 15 percent had been previously vaccinated against smallpox**. The appropriate strategy for containment is isolation of cases and treatment with large doses of vitamin C and the right homeopathic medicine and herbs, based on the presenting symptoms.

*Fine PE, Jezek Z, Grab B, Dixon H. The transmission potential of monkeypox virus in human populations. Int J Epidemiol. 1988 Sep;17(3):643-50.

** http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no3/hutin.htm

Randall Neustaedter OMD, LAc
Classical Medicine Center
1779 Woodside Rd #201C
Redwood City, CA 94061
650 299-9170

Previous newsletter articles can be found at www.cure-guide.com

Author of The Vaccine Guide, North Atlantic Books, 2002