Posted by Professional Networkers on June 13, 2003 at 12:46:57:
Health Workers May Have Caught Monkeypox From Patients
Cases Would Be First Human Transmission In U.S.
June 13, 2003
Officials are now looking into whether two Wisconsin health care workers may have gotten monkeypox from patients.
It would be the first known human-to-human transmission of the virus in the United States, although the virus has been transmitted between humans in Africa. Until now, health officials said that in the weeklong U.S. outbreak, the virus was being spread by pet prairie dogs to humans.
An official at a Milwaukee hospital said a nurse developed symptoms similar to monkeypox after caring for a patient who had a possible case of the disease. The nurse wore a mask, gloves and a gown when treating the patient.
Tissue specimens are being tested to confirm whether the unidentified health care worker is infected with the exotic African virus.
In the other case, a dermatologist in Marshfield, Wis., said one of his assistants may have the illness after touching a lesion on an infected girl. He said the assistant's boyfriend is also showing some similar symptoms.
Meanwhile, federal officials are considering even more measures to prevent more infected animals from entering the United States.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said officials are considering quarantining animals coming to the United States as a way to head off future infections such as monkeypox. Thompson says the goal is to stop any such outbreak "before it gets started."
Thompson said officials are considering starting quarantines with some species and expanding later. As an example, he cited the imported Gambian rat that health officials believe introduced monkeypox to America.
"There is no reason for bringing in a diseased Gambian rat that carries monkeypox virus and have that start spreading in America," he said.
Thompson said the concept is "being worked on very intensely," but he did not say when it could be formally put forward as a proposed rule.