Health Alert - Monkeypox

Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services
JUNE 9, 2003

FROM: RICHARD C. DUNN
DIRECTOR

An extensive multidisciplinary investigation in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana has identified cases of febrile rash illness in persons who had direct or close contact with recently purchased ill prairie dogs. A Wisconsin laboratory recovered viral isolates from a patient and a prairie dog and demonstrated a virus morphologically consistent with a poxvirus by electron microscopy. Preliminary results of serologic testing and polymerase chain reaction testing of patients' specimens performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 6-7 suggest that the causative agent is most closely related to monkeypox virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family of viruses. Results of additional evaluation at CDC by electron microscopy and immunohistochemical studies are consistent with the finding of an orthopoxvirus. These findings represent the first evidence of community-acquired monkeypox-like infection in the United States. Further characterization of the virus is in progress.

The purpose of this Health Alert is to inform medical and public health professionals, and veterinarians, of the occurrence of this outbreak and to provide information on monkeypox, including its clinical presentation, diagnosis, management, and prevention.

Health care providers and veterinarians should immediately report any suspected cases of monkeypox in humans or animals to their local public health agency, or to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) at 1-800-392-0272 (24 hours a day/7 days a week).

This Health Alert will be updated as new information and recommendations become available. The most recent update can always be accessed by going to the DHSS web site (http://www.dhss.state.mo.us/) and clicking on "News," and then clicking on "Health Alert Archive."

Rather than list the entire contents of the Health Alert here, you may download either a MS Word version or Adobe Acrobat PDF version by clicking on the appropriate link below.

Download as an Adobe Acrobat PDF Document | Download as a MS Word Document

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