Shots for monkeypox exposure urged

ATLANTA -- The U.S. government banned the sale of prairie dogs, prohibited the importation of African rodents and recommended smallpox shots Wednesday for people exposed to monkeypox, the exotic African disease that has spread from pet prairie dogs to humans.

The smallpox vaccine can prevent monkeypox up to two weeks after exposure to the virus, but is most effective in the first four days.

"We're optimistic we can deliver the vaccine to these people in time to do good," said Dr. David Fleming, deputy director for Public Health and Science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The government's aggressive response to the disease came the same day that the federal investigation of the monkeypox outbreak was expanded to eight more states, bringing the total to 15.

This is the first outbreak of monkeypox in the Western Hemisphere.

"We must do everything we can to protect persons who are exposed to monkeypox in the course of investigating or responding to the outbreak," CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said.

Fleming said he is confident the disease will be controlled.

"Monkeypox is a disease that is potentially transmissible from person to person but at a fairly low level," he said. "I don't anticipate the same kind of problem that we anticipate from SARS."

The Department of Agriculture will be in charge of enforcing the prairie dog ban, which also prohibits transporting the animals. Gambian rats and five other types of large African rodents were banned because a Gambian rat is believed to have spread the virus to prairie dogs, which are actually rodents and are native to the American Plains.

Fleming said the smallpox vaccine is 85 percent effective against monkeypox. The smallpox vaccine is widely available because states stocked up on it out of fear of bioterrorism. More than 37,000 health workers in the United States have been vaccinated as a result.

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