Express.co.uk BY CALLUM HOARE
MONKEYPOX has put health officials on high alert, with some even reportedly calling for rodent pets to be culled.
The suggestion featured as part of “last resort’ guidelines drawn up by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Rodents have already been identified as carriers of the disease in west and central Africa. It is understood that a cull could be ordered for hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs if they are unable to be isolated.
The ECDC said it is “theoretically possible” that Europeans could pass monkeypox on to their pets, which could then act as a reservoir and transmit it back to humans.
Their report said: “Currently, little is known about the suitability of European peri-domestic (mammalian) animal species to serve as a host for monkeypox virus.
“However, rodents, and particularly species of the family of Sciuridae (squirrels) are likely to be suitable hosts, more so than humans (see disease background), and transmission from humans to (pet) animals is theoretically possible.
