U.S. Urges Smallpox Shots in Monkeypox Investigation

June 11, 2003
By Marilyn Marchione
mmarchione@journalsentinel.com

Federal health officials are recommending smallpox shots for veterinarians, health care workers and members of the public who were exposed to animals or people with monkeypox, hoping the vaccine will help prevent deaths from the rare virus.

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.

The U.S. also banned the sale of prairie dogs and the import of all rodents from Africa. Gambian rats, a large African rodent, are suspected of infecting U.S. prairie dogs with the rare virus that's now believed to have spread to 54 people in four states.

This is the first outbreak of monkeypox in the Western Hemisphere.

The government's aggressive response to the disease came the same day the federal investigation of the monkeypox outbreak was expanded to eight more states, bringing the total to 15.

"We must do everything we can to protect persons who are exposed to monkeypox in the course of investigating or responding to the outbreak," said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding.

The investigation into the outbreak involves states where pets may have been sold or swapped after potentially being exposed to monkeypox.

Nine investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were sent to Indiana, and an official from that state's health department said she was unable to give even a ballpark estimate of the number of people or animals that may be at risk of monkeypox there.

The CDC also activated its emergency response center to coordinate investigating and controlling the disease - a rare move that was done during the West Nile virus and SARS outbreaks.

No deaths have occurred in the U.S. outbreak, but fatality rates of up to 10% have been reported in Africa, and David Fleming, deputy director of the CDC, said Wednesday: "That is a figure I think we should be anticipating in this country."

Even though the United States has better medical care that likely will hold down deaths, "We do need to be prepared for the fact that monkeypox can be a fatal disease," he said.

Monkeypox-infected prairie dogs distributed from Phil's Pocket Pets of Villa Park, Ill., may have been sold to numerous buyers in 15 states since April 15, according to a Department of Agriculture emergency warning issued Wednesday.

The states where possibly infected prairie dogs were being sought were Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio and South Carolina.

As of Wednesday, health officials had confirmed a total of nine human cases of the disease - four in Wisconsin, four in Indiana and one in Illinois. Fifty possible cases had been reported - 23 in Indiana, 20 in Wisconsin, six in Illinois and one in New Jersey, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Complete coverage will appear online later today and in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the morning.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jun03/147412.asp