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Wisconsin monkeypox survivor reflects on 2003 outbreak

Wisconsin was the epicenter of the 2003 monkeypox outbreak.

Wisconsin monkeypox survivor reflects on 2003 outbreak

Wisconsin was the epicenter of the 2003 monkeypox outbreak.

THE UNIDTE STATES THE UNITED KINGDOM PORTUGAL SWEDEN AND ITALY AN INVESTIGATORS ARE INVESTIGATIONS. THAT IS ARE UNDERWAY IN CANADA AS WELL AS SPAIN AND NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO DOZENS OF PEOPLE IN WISCONSIN GOT SICK WITH MONKEYPOX FROM INFECTED PRAIRIE DOGS BEING SOLD IN THE STATE WS AND 12 NEWS KENT WAINSTTCO CAUGHT UP WITH ONE PERSON WHO SURVIVED THAT OUTBREAK. EACH OF THESE DISEASE OUTBREAKS HAVE A DIFFERENT STORY THE REEMERGENCEF O MONKEYPOX IN THE US BRINGS BACK SOME PAINFUL MEMORIESOR F KURT. ZASKI. YOU SURVIVED MONKEYPOX. YES. YES, LEIK GENEVAAN M WAS A VETERINARIAN IN 2003 AND CAME IN CONTACTIT WH THE PRAIRIE DOG CARRYING THE VIRUS WITHIN ABOUT 48 HOURS OF MY HANDLING THAT SPECIMEN I BECAME ILL CHIENCK POX OR POX LIKE LESIONS NAUSEA DIZZINESS. FEVER, HE’S ASKING SPOKE WITH 12 NEWS IN 2003 AFTER BEING QUARANTINE FOR TWO WEEKS. I STARTED DEVELOPING A BLISTER ON MY THUMB. THAT DIDN’T LKOO RIGHT DIDN’T ACT RIGHT HEALTH OFFICIALS AT THE TIME CAUTIONED AND ALARMED PUBLIC AS MORE CASES TURNED UP ACROSS WISNSCOIN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE SKIN LESION OF MONKEYXPO CAN TRANSMIT THE VIRUS. THERE WERE 71 MONKEYPOX CASES REPORTED IN THE US IN 2003 39 OR MORE THAN HALF OF THEM RIGHT HERE IN WISCONSIN. NOT BEEN A SINGLE WISCONSIN CASE REPORTED IN THE 19 YEARS SCEIN BUT HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY THEY’RE READY IF MONKEYPOX WERE TO RETURN YOU’VE BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD BEFORE IN THIS DEPARTMENT WE HAVE THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT’S COMPLELYTE US TO BE CERTAINLY I MEAN, YOU KNOW, THERE’S A PROCESS IN THE STATE OF WISCONSIN IN HERE WITHIN THE MILWAUKEE HEALTH DEPARTMENT. HOW DO YOU MANAGE COMMUNICABLE DISEASE OFHICH W MONKEYPOX IS ONE AND WE'R’ PREPARED TO MANAGE IT ZESTY BELIEVES THERE WOULD BE LESSOR WRY TODAY ABOUT AN OUTBREAK THAN HE RECALLS. THERE WASN’T NINETEEN YEARS AGO AND PEOPLE WERE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT WE DID. DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. NOW THE CDC SAYS ONE CEAS OF MONKEYPOX HAS BEEN CONFIRMED IN MASSACHUSETTS AND
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Wisconsin monkeypox survivor reflects on 2003 outbreak

Wisconsin was the epicenter of the 2003 monkeypox outbreak.

The World Health Organization is meeting daily to determine its next steps for the containment of monkeypox.So far, cases have been confirmed in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Italy and the United States. Cases in Canada and Spain are also being investigated. Wisconsin dealt with its own outbreak of the disease nearly 20 years ago. Cases spread after prairie dogs being sold in Wisconsin were found to be infected. WISN 12 caught up with one man Friday who survived the outbreak in 2003.The re-emergence of monkeypox in the U.S. brings back some painful memories for Dr. Kurt Zaeske. He survived the 2003 monkeypox outbreak.The Lake Geneva man was a veterinarian in 2003 and came in contact with a prairie dog carrying the virus."Within about 48 hours of my handling that specimen I became ill," he said Friday.He developed chickenpox, or pox-like lesions, nausea, dizziness and a high fever. Zaeske spoke with WISN 12 in 2003 after being quarantined for two weeks."I started developing a blister on my thumb that didn't look right, didn't act right," he said at the time.Health officials in 2003 cautioned an alarmed public as more cases turned up across Wisconsin.Dr. Seth Foldy was the Milwaukee Health Commissioner back then."Direct contact with the skin lesion of monkeypox can transmit the virus," he said in 2003.There were 71 monkeypox cases reported in the U.S. in 2003. Of those, 39, were diagnosed in Wisconsin. There has not been a single Wisconsin case reported in the 19 years since but health officials said they're ready if monkeypox were to return."This is not something that's completely unfamiliar to us. There is a process within the state of Wisconsin and in the Milwaukee Health Department with how you manage the communicable disease, of which monkeypox is one, and we're prepared to manage it," current Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said Friday.Zaeske believes there would be less worry today about an outbreak than he recalls there was 19 years ago."We did not know what was going to happen (then)," he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said one case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Massachusetts.Six more cases are being investigated across the country. Two cases were diagnosed in 2021.The CDC determined the monkeypox virus was likely introduced into the United States in 2003 by a distributor where prairie dogs and Gambian giant rats were housed together in Illinois. "A search of imported animal records revealed that Gambian giant rats were shipped from Ghana in April to a wildlife importer in Texas and subsequently were sold to the Illinois distributor," a CDC report said. "The shipment contained approximately 800 small mammals of nine different species that might have been the actual source of introduction of monkeypox."

The World Health Organization is meeting daily to determine its next steps for the containment of monkeypox.

So far, cases have been confirmed in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Italy and the United States.

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Cases in Canada and Spain are also being investigated.

Wisconsin dealt with its own outbreak of the disease nearly 20 years ago.

Cases spread after prairie dogs being sold in Wisconsin were found to be infected.

WISN 12 caught up with one man Friday who survived the outbreak in 2003.

The re-emergence of monkeypox in the U.S. brings back some painful memories for Dr. Kurt Zaeske.

He survived the 2003 monkeypox outbreak.

The Lake Geneva man was a veterinarian in 2003 and came in contact with a prairie dog carrying the virus.

"Within about 48 hours of my handling that specimen I became ill," he said Friday.

He developed chickenpox, or pox-like lesions, nausea, dizziness and a high fever.

Zaeske spoke with WISN 12 in 2003 after being quarantined for two weeks.

"I started developing a blister on my thumb that didn't look right, didn't act right," he said at the time.

Health officials in 2003 cautioned an alarmed public as more cases turned up across Wisconsin.

Dr. Seth Foldy was the Milwaukee Health Commissioner back then.

"Direct contact with the skin lesion of monkeypox can transmit the virus," he said in 2003.

There were 71 monkeypox cases reported in the U.S. in 2003.

Of those, 39, were diagnosed in Wisconsin.

There has not been a single Wisconsin case reported in the 19 years since but health officials said they're ready if monkeypox were to return.

"This is not something that's completely unfamiliar to us. There is a process within the state of Wisconsin and in the Milwaukee Health Department with how you manage the communicable disease, of which monkeypox is one, and we're prepared to manage it," current Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson said Friday.

Zaeske believes there would be less worry today about an outbreak than he recalls there was 19 years ago.

"We did not know what was going to happen (then)," he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said one case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Massachusetts.

Six more cases are being investigated across the country. Two cases were diagnosed in 2021.

The CDC determined the monkeypox virus was likely introduced into the United States in 2003 by a distributor where prairie dogs and Gambian giant rats were housed together in Illinois.

"A search of imported animal records revealed that Gambian giant rats were shipped from Ghana in April to a wildlife importer in Texas and subsequently were sold to the Illinois distributor," a CDC report said. "The shipment contained approximately 800 small mammals of nine different species that might have been the actual source of introduction of monkeypox."