The symptoms of a sick animal include: listlessness, ocular and nasal discharges, coughing, hair loss sometimes accompanied by painful scabs, and pneumonia. Look for nodules similar to mosquito bites and inflammation of the lymph glands.
In addition to monkeys, giant pouched rats (''Cricetomys'' sp.), dormice (''Graphiurus'' sp.) and African squirrels (''Heliosciurus'', ''Funisciurus'') have all been implicated as reservoirs of the virus. The use of these animals as food may be an important source of transmission to humans.
Monkeypox as a disease was first associated with human illness in Zaire and West Africa during 1970–1971. A second outbreak of human illness was identified in Zaire in 1996–1997. In 2003, a small outbreak of human monkeypox in the United States occurred among owners of pet prairie dogs. The prairie dogs had been exposed to an infected Gambian pouched rat (''Cricetomys gambianus'').
A second African focus of infection has been discovered in Sudan. No infected patients died.
Further Reading
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