Ban imposed on sale of prairie dogs, Gambian rats

INDIANAPOLIS -- Four cases of monkey pox have been confirmed in Indiana and 25 more cases are suspected, state health officials said Wednesday.\nThe confirmation was made through laboratory analysis by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four of the 29 people who have been confirmed or are suspected to have the disease have required hospitalization, the Indiana Department of Health said.\nThe department did not say whether the four confirmed cases were the ones involving hospitalization. It said as many as 100 Indiana residents overall might have been exposed to the disease, many of them at a reptile show last month in Indianapolis.\n"We expect as people learn about this and realize that they may have symptoms or may have been exposed to sick prairie dogs, that we'll be having more," state epidemiologist Bob Teclaw said Tuesday.\nConfirming all the cases will take time, he said.\nForty-eight possible cases have been reported across the country; no one has died of the disease.\nHealth officials Tuesday announced five other confirmed human cases of the disease -- four in Wisconsin and one in Illinois. Of the other possible cases, 16 have been reported in Wisconsin and eight in Illinois.\nTeclaw said the suspected Indiana cases were not confined to a particular area or age group and included men, women and possibly one child.\nExposures occur when people are scratched or bitten by an infected animal.\nThe Indiana Board of Animal Health banned the sale of prairie dogs and Gambian rats Monday, which federal health officials believe spread the disease. The ban is expected to remain in effect until at least mid-July.\nMonkeypox, which produces fever, rash, chills and aches, is a milder relative of smallpox. It has a mortality rate of 1 to 10 percent in Africa, but U.S. officials believe better nutrition and medical treatment among Americans probably will prevent deaths.\nThe Centers for Disease Control has said the prairie dogs likely were infected with the virus by a giant Gambian rat, which is indigenous to Africa, while at a pet distributor in suburban Chicago.\nThirty-one people or businesses in Indiana are believed to have bought prairie dogs, Gambian rats or other exotic animals from Phil's Pocket Pets in Villa Park, Ill., since April 15.\nState officials expect more suspected cases of monkeypox because the pet distributor participated in a monthly Midwest Reptile Show on May 18 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.