- In 2003, Dr. Kurt Zaeske euthanized a prairie dog that ended up testing positive for
monkeypox . - Days later Zaeske would become ill with flu-like symptoms and skin lesions.
A Wisconsin veterinarian who survived monkeypox during the 2003 US outbreak said while the recent cases are concerning, this disease isn't comparable to COVID-19.
Dr. Kurt Zaeske survived monkeypox in 2003 when more than 70 cases were reported in several Midwestern states.
As scientists investigate an unusual number of monkeypox cases in Europe and North America, Zaeske told Insider that it's important to realize that this virus is not transmitted in the same way as or as contagious as the virus that causes COVID-19.
Zaeske told Insider that at the time he tested positive for monkeypox he had a client who was an exotic animal breeder, who would purchase animals to either resell or breed.
His client received a shipment of West African pouched Gambian rats alongside prairie dogs. Some of the rats and prairie dogs arrived dead, and others were ill. By the time some of the prairie dogs began to feel better, Zaeske's client and his sister, who had close contact with the animals began to feel ill.
Zaeske told Insider he then euthanized one of the sick prairie dogs and then sent it the state veterinarian for further testing. He himself then fell ill.
"I was the only one that handled the Prairie dog and euthanized it. At the end of the day, the only person that got sick was me," he said. "My staff, my mom, my family, and none of my clients ended up getting monkeypox."
He added, "So the contagion was very difficult and it seemed that most of the people that ended up contracting monkeypox had a history of direct contact at some point."
Eventually, he learned the prairie dogs were carrying monkeypox, which was presumably picked up from the Gambian rats.
Zaeske described his symptoms as flu-like with a fever, chills, and body aches. He also developed a small number of pustules, or pox lesions, on his body. He said he noticed that in 2003 those who were older and most likely got routine smallpox vaccines before they were discontinued in 1972, had fewer lesions on their bodies.
"Whereas when they discontinued using smallpox, the younger folks had not gotten any kind of poxvirus, vaccine, and therefore they were showing full-blown symptoms," he said.
The smallpox vaccine was used in 2003 to help limit the spread during the outbreak.
Zaeske said he is advocating for routine smallpox vaccines as the world gets closer and people travel more often, because they appear to offer some degree of protection from monkeypox in his experience.
Zaeske told Insider that since it took close contact with either the infected prairie dog or another person to get monkeypox, he thinks the general public should not be worried that this could evolve and spread like COVID-19.
"Each disease outbreak that we have is its own animal, or it's its own story," he said. "You have to look at the data that's coming in to find out, 'is this something that's causing a high level of infection, a high level of mortality?'"
He added, "Poxvirus is something that tends to be spread through direct contact. Coronavirus is very much aerosolized in the air."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also cautioned the public, noting that monkeypox is much harder to spread than other viruses, such as COVID-19.
"It's not a situation where if you're passing someone in the grocery store, they're going to be at risk for monkeypox," Jennifer McQuiston, a director at the CDC, told reporters on Monday.