A dog in Paris contracted monkeypox after sleeping in the same bed as its gay owners, who also had the illness. The two Parisians began to experience symptoms at the start of June before they started to exhibit lesions indicative of monkeypox infection. The first instance of a dog with a confirmed monkeypox virus infection that may have been spread by humans has been documented by French researchers.
Researchers from the Sorbonne University in Paris reported a case of the monekypox virus in two men who have sex with men: a 27-year-old white man who is HIV-negative and a 44-year-old Latino man who is living with undetectable viral loads while taking antiretrovirals.
Their male Italian greyhound, who was 4 years old and had no history of medical conditions, tested positive for the virus 12 days after the first signs of monkeypox appeared. Six days after having sex with other partners, the men–non-exclusive partners living together–presented with anal skin ulcers.
The rash appeared on the white man’s back and legs, whereas it appeared on the Latino man’s face, ears, and legs after an anal skin ulcer. Four days after the rash in both cases, weakness, headaches, and fever set in. In addition to the usual skin and mucous membrane lesions, the dog, who was sharing a bed with the men, also had anal skin ulcers and red, tender bumps on the abdomen.
The researchers sequenced the DNA of the monkeypox virus from the dog and the Latino man and discovered that both samples contained lineage B.1 of the hMPXV-1 clade, which has been spreading in non-endemic nations since April. In comparison to the United Kingdom, which had confirmed 2,672 cases as of August 2nd, France had reported nearly 2,000 cases at the end of July.
While the US declared it a national emergency, the World Health Organization classified the spreading outbreak of the once-rare disease as an international emergency in July. Vaccination against smallpox, known as Imvanex in the UK and Jynneos in the US, can also prevent monkeypox because the viruses that cause both diseases are closely related.
According to data, it stops about 85% of cases, and since 2018, it has been used in the UK “off-label.” The vaccine, which is estimated to cost £20 per dose, contains a modified form of the vaccinia virus, which resembles both smallpox and monkeypox but is not contagious to humans.
