Scientists’ Great Monkeypox Scare: Spreading and Staying in Wildlife

Maureen MillerAn infectious disease epidemiologist and medical anthropologist at Columbia University, this week an Italian Greyhound in Paris first dog known to catch monkeypox from humans.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have warned that the disease can spread to pets since the start of this epidemic. , nuzzle your skin, or jump into your bedding. These are potential routes of viral infection.

CDC provides clear guidance. Quarantine of livestock You may have been infected by a pet that may have been infected by an infected person. Dogs should be able to recover from the virus just like humans.

It’s not the human-to-animal transmission scenario that Miller is worried about.

“It’s the rodents that scare me,” she said.

Once the virus takes hold in wildlife such as mice and squirrels, eradication becomes exponentially more difficult. Rather than being limited to humans, it can take up residence in countless tiny vectors and infect other animals, pets, and people.

Miller said he felt “terrified” of greyhounds, but said, “We have clear protocols on how to manage infected pets.

she is not alone.

The prospect of monkeypox becoming endemic in rodents—an order of mammals notorious for their toughness, mobility, and effectiveness in spreading the pathogen—”keep me up at night,” he said. Anne Limona UCLA epidemiologist who has studied it for the past 20 years.

“It’s certainly a possible scenario,” Limoyne said.

Since the first case was reported in Boston on May 19, more than 13,500 monkeypox cases have been recorded in the United States. The disease is spread primarily through sustained skin-to-skin contact and less commonly through infected clothing or sheets.

of overwhelming majority The number of cases of the current outbreak in Europe and North America is among men who have sex with menBut “there’s no biological reason why they’re the only risk group,” Miller said.

If the virus were to spread more widely beyond that particular demographic, non-human mammals would likely play an important role.

Unlike smallpox, which only infects humans, this particular orthopoxvirus is less discrimination In the selection of mammalian hosts. Anteaters, hedgehogs and chinchillas can definitely be infected, and many species of rats and mice are suspected to be equally vulnerable.

There are several relatively easy ways for viruses to spread among rodent populations. Infected pets can become infected through bites, scratches, feces or urine. Rodents that burrow into litter can come into close contact with contaminated bed sheets, clothing, or bandages.

None of these outcomes are certain, but they are all realistic possibilities.

“Possibility is enough for us to take it seriously because a possibility can turn into a possibility and we don’t want that to happen,” he said. Told. Joseph NS Eisenberg, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. “If you wait to act until you are sure there is a problem, it is often too late.”

In previous outbreaks involving this poxvirus, animals, especially rodents, were the main source of human infection.

The disease is endemic in rural areas of western and central Africa. It spreads through close contact with infected animals. Usually for hunting, farming, or for many children, play with squirrel.

Scientists have yet to confirm which wildlife species are the natural hosts of the virus, but the World Health Organization has identified rodents. most likely candidate.

Birds, reptiles and amphibians appear immune to other types of orthopoxviruses, a group that includes monkeypox and its much more deadly cousin smallpox.

The name is misleading because the virus is more common in rodents than in primates.The orthopox virus is many names after animals They are identified first and this is first confirmed A herd of laboratory monkeys in Copenhagen, 1958.

WHO this month rename the virus and its two main strains previously labeled according to the regions of Africa through which they were distributed.

Previous outbreaks of this disease in the United States have been caused by rodents. 2003an animal dealer in Texas housed prairie dogs in the same cages and bedding as exotic animals imported from Africa found to have the virus. All 72 suspected or confirmed cases, including the girl, had contact with these animals.

The outbreak was contained within two months before the virus had a chance to become established in local animal populations.At this time, there are no known animal hosts for the virus outside of western and central Africa.

Veterinarians and epidemiologists warn that this could easily change. CDC guidelines for quarantining confirmed or suspected pets are intended to protect animal health and prevent the spread of the virus among wild mammals.

According to CDC guidelines, pets exposed to sick people should be quarantined from other animals for 21 days.and warning Reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials are warning anxious pet owners not to wipe their animals with household cleaners or chemical disinfectants.

“The longer the virus stays with us and the more species it infects, the more likely it is to circulate in other animals.” Eman Aniseveterinary microbiologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Humans and their pets can be vaccinated, but “once it’s out in the wild it will be difficult to control,” she said.