MONKEYPOX IN THE

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2003 MONKEYPOX IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE
FIRST TIME!
How did this happen?
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Lets follow how the CDC and local health
departments monkeypox investigation teams as
they investigated this outbreak.
Their traceback investigation led the team to
Accra, Ghana.
Exotic pets shipped from Ghana to Texas Pet
store distributor.
50 Gambian giant rats 53 rope squirrels 2
bushtail porcupines 47 tree squirrels 100 striped
mice 510 dormice
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African rodents were distributed from Texas to
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri,
New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas pet
distributors.
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Praire dogs at pet stores were infected with
monkeypox via contact with Gambian giant rats and
dormice that originated in Ghana.
Monkeypox has long been known to cause sporadic
infections in the jungles of West and Central
Africa. Monkeypox in Africa is carried mainly by
squirrels but named after monkeys because it
often kills them. In recent years, there have
been small outbreaks of monkeypox in Congo.
Monkeypox virus
Praire dog
Gambian rat
Create animation in which rats and dogs are
playing and rat bites praire dog.
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In Wisconsin, A mother and her 3 year
old daughter purchased a pair of prairie dogs
for 200 at an animal swap meet.
Exotic Pet Swap Meet
First case reported in the outbreak.
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Rash consisting of raised bumps filled with fluid.
At least 71 cases of monkeypox were reported to
the CDC from Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri, Kansas, and Ohio.
The majority of patients were exposed to prairie
dogs or premises where prairie dogs were kept.
This included pet owners, pet store workers, and
veterinarians.
Clinical Symptoms of Monkeypox
(Symptoms are similar to its relative Smallpox
but milder and it differs from smallpox in that
it causes lymph nodes to swell. Symptoms appear
approximately 12 days after exposure to
monkeypox. Infection occurs through a bite or
contact with the animals body fluids or rash.)

• Fever
• Headache
• Muscle aches and backache
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Rash

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Laboratory Diagnosis

• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
• Cell Culture
• Immunohistochemical testing
• Electron microscopy of skin rash lesions

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Public Health Strategies used to Control the
Outbreak

• Use of Smallpox Vaccine
• Euthanasia and quarantine of certain animals
• Embargo

(FDA/CDC joint prohibiting the importation Of
African rodents into the U.S. The FDA/CDC joint
order also banned within The U.S. any sale,
offering for distribution, Transport or release
into the environment of The African prairie dog
species in question.)
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Lessons Learned

• One Prairie dog in Wisconsin played a critical
  role
• in transmission (it accounted for more than half
  of the
• human cases in Wisconsin).

Individuals were exposed to the prairie dog as it
moved from Place to place (pet store to
household to two different veterinary Clinics).

• Public health threat posed by the importation of
• exotic pets into the U.S.