Loading...
While the U.S. has been preparing for a terrorist-promulgated smallpox outbreak, furry pets have been spreading monkeypox in the Midwest. On June 13, the CDC reported monkeypox in 53 persons in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Fifty-one of these individuals reported contact with animals, including prairie dogs, a Gambian giant rat, and a rabbit exposed to an ailing prairie dog at a veterinary clinic. Trace-back investigations revealed that the sick prairie dogs had once been housed near Gambian giant rats recently imported from Ghana, where monkeypox is endemic.
Most patients had fever, papular rash, respiratory symptoms, and marked lymphadenopathy. The rash involved the head, trunk, and extremities (often including palms and soles) and syn…