Jun 26, 2003 (CIDRAP News) The number of human monkeypox cases under investigation in the United States continued to decline in the past week as 11 new possible cases were reported but 19 others were ruled out, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The case count stood at 79 as of yesterday, including 29 laboratory-confirmed cases, the CDC reports in the Jun 27 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. A week ago the agency reported 87 cases with 20 confirmed. Current cases include 39 in Wisconsin, where the outbreak began, 20 in Indiana, 16 in Illinois, 2 in Missouri, and 1 each in Kansas and Ohio.
Of 75 patients for whom information was available, 19 (25%) were hospitalized with the illness, the CDC reports. Two children were seriously ill. One child was hospitalized 14 days for treatment of severe monkeypox-associated encephalitis and was sent home after improving. A second child, who was exposed to three prairie dogs, was "hospitalized with profound painful cervical and tonsillar adenopathy and diffuse pox lesions," including some in the mouth and throat, the report says. It does not say whether the child was improving.
Twenty-six people have received smallpox shots to prevent monkeypox, as previously recommended by the CDC for those with possible exposure to the disease, the article says. They included 5 lab workers, 11 healthcare workers, 7 household contacts of patients, 2 veterinarians, and 1 work contact.
The CDC says it has not confirmed that any monkeypox cases resulted exclusively from person-to-person contact. Most of the confirmed case-patients reported exposure to wild or exotic animals, including prairie dogs, but some also had household contact with other patients, the report states.
The monkeypox outbreak was recognized early this month in Wisconsin and was announced by the CDC Jun 7. The disease spread to humans from pet prairie dogs, which were believed to have caught it from a Gambian giant rat imported from Africa when the animals were housed together at an animal wholesale business in Illinois. Monkeypox had not been seen in the Western Hemisphere before the current outbreak.
CDC. Update: multistate outbreak of monkeypoxIllinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin, 2003. MMWR 2003;52(25):589-90 [Full text]
