U.S. ‘Monkeypox’ Cases First in Western Hemisphere

By Dr. Clark Hansen

Sunday, June 9, 2003, U.S. health officials were investigating the first outbreak in the Western hemisphere of the “monkeypox” virus, a smallpox-like disease spread by rodents and monkeys that rarely is fatal in humans and may have infected at least 28 people in three Midwest states. The Washington Post lists the following general symptoms for monkey pox: “fever, headache, cough and an extremely painful rash of pus-filled sores that spreads across the body.”

Federal and state health officials were trying to find out why 17 people in Wisconsin, 10 in Indiana and one in Illinois became sick with symptoms such as fever and rashes following contact with sick Gambian rats and prairie dogs. No one in the United States has died from the illness.

A pet dealership called Phil’s Pocket Pets in a suburb of Chicago has been quarantined after the person in Illinois suspected of having the disease reported close contact with exotic animals at the facility, the Illinois agency said.

Health officials are investigating to determine whether the virus may have been spread when prairie dogs or an ill Gambian giant rat were obtained from the Illinois dealership by a Milwaukee, Wisconsin animal distributor. The distributor last month sold prairie dogs to two pet shops in the Milwaukee area and to others at an event in Wisconsin where dealers exchange exotic pets.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Sunday that laboratory tests have virtually confirmed the U.S. outbreak of monkeypox, a rare viral disease that is found mainly in central and West African rain forests where primates flourish. Animals susceptible to the disease also include rabbits and some rodents. Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the deputy director of the national center for infectious diseases, told Reuters in an interview that monkeypox is virtually unknown outside of Africa and has never before been found in the Western hemisphere.

In the past, most monkeypox cases in humans were in remote African villages close to tropical rain forests where there is frequent contact with infected monkeys and other animals. Ostroff said little is known about the spread of the disease but it is conceivable that it could infect rodent-type pets such as gerbils or hamsters. The World Health Organization said monkeypox is usually transmitted to humans through contact with an animal’s blood or by a bite.

However, to many average Americans, as well as many scientists and viral experts, it seems unlikely and unreasonable that a rare viral cousin to small pox, never before found outside of central and West African rain forests, and never before found in the Western hemisphere, could suddenly be transmitted to pet prairie dogs or Gambian rats and almost simultaneously infect 19 people.

Jon Rappoport, a free-lance investigative reporter for 20 years, questions the possibility. In his top story on his website: NoMoreFakeNews.com, he says, “The CDC is calling the 28 cases ‘probable monkey pox,’ a germ that WHO, in the past, has said is virtually clinically indistinguishable from smallpox. Are we seeing a few mild cases of smallpox as an adverse reaction to the vaccine?”

Dr. Barbara Price has written, “Small pox vaccinations also protected against monkey pox…and an unanticipated result has been an increase of monkey pox in humans.” The Washington Post article carried a key sentence. “The smallpox vaccine is believed to protect against monkeypox.” Rapport believes that this cluster of infections, if they exist at all, is being used as a an excuse to push smallpox vaccines, in the face of huge refusals by health care workers, civilians and military personnel to take the shot.

Whether or not the “Monkeypox Virus” outbreaks in the U.S. are real or imaginary, I believe that the newly produced Small pox vaccine is too deadly to be used for prevention. It should be used only for exposed populations in the face of a confirmed biological deployment, which is now unlikely since terrorists know that the vaccine is readily available. They will now be much more likely to use Botulinum toxin, or a new strain of Anthrax or Ebola Virus, etc.

In any event, the key to prevention is a healthy immune system. Since it is known that even in the worst epidemics, 10-70% of the population recovers, a healthy immune response is your best defense. There are some natural remedies that may provide protection, but some reported natural treatments would be worthless.

The only safe and effective natural remedies that have a clinical track record in the treatment of biological agents are homeopathic medicines. They have been documented to be effective in multiple epidemics of the past and can provide significant relief of the symptoms associated with these diseases by stimulating the body to heal more quickly. By combining the homeopathic remedies that match the symptoms produced by the effects of these biological agents, the body is stimulated to respond more vigorously to combat them. Homeopathic medicines have been used in the past to treat four of six of the CDC Category A Biological Agents, including Anthrax, Smallpox, the Plague and Botulism. For more information click here: FAQs.

The same Biological defense homeopathic remedy used for Small pox can also be used for “Monkey pox.” For more information about homeopathic Smallpox biological defense, click here.