MADISON, Wis. - At least 13 people in Wisconsin and Illinois have gotten sick after buying prairie dogs that might have been infected with a virus, officials said Thursday.
The victims reported fever, coughs, rashes and swollen lymph nodes within two weeks of contact with the prairie dogs, said Dr. Mark Wegner, chief of the Wisconsin Communicable Disease Epidemiology Section.
Twelve of the patients were in Wisconsin, and all of them have recovered or are getting better, Wegner said. The Illinois public health department knew of one illness in that state, but a department spokeswoman said she didn't know where the person was.
Wegner said that he had never encountered a case of prairie dogs making people sick, but he pointed out that diseases can move from animals to people.
"It's definitely interesting," he said.
About 30 prairie dogs that might have been infected with an orthopox virus were shipped from Texas to Illinois to a man in Wisconsin, who sold them to two Milwaukee pet stores and a Wausau swap meet, said Donna Gilson, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin agriculture department. Gilson wouldn't identify the man, saying the agency hasn't talked to him.
An orthopox virus causes poxes, which cause skin rashes, Gilson said.
Prairie dogs in the shipment suffered from fever, swollen lymph nodes, blisters and eye discharges, Wegner said.
Eight people in Milwaukee and four others in northern Wisconsin bought prairie dogs from the shipment and got sick, Wegner said.
The Illinois patient also had bought a prairie dog from that shipment, said Jena Welliever, a spokeswoman with the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Eleven other prairie dogs from the shipment were found at the two pet stores; some were sick, and all were euthanized, she said.
Federal and state officials were trying to track the origin of the prairie dog shipment and whether any other animals were sold from it, Gilson said.
The Texas health department could not be reached for comment.
Wegner advised people to avoid sick-looking prairie dogs and to wash their hands after any contact with the animals or their surroundings.
Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents.
