Cowpox Virus Transmission from Pet Rats to Humans, France

Natural reservoir hosts of CPXV are wild rodents, such as bank voles and wood mice. Mostly domestic cats, which are occasional predators of wild rodents. Countries affected by CPXV virus is Europe, Russia, the western states of the former United Soviet Republic and adjacent areas of northern and central Asia. Adopting undomesticated animals as pets can lead to new troubles. Earlier in 2009, there was 4 cases of the cowpox virus cutaneous infection in northern France. This disease was contacted from infected rats. Four people had purchased the infected rats from the same pet stored. The purchases created conditions favorable to for new up-and-coming pathogens. A 14-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital with ulcerated nodules on her upper lip and her left lower eyelid and several molluscum-like-lesions on her right eyelids. …. She also cared for a clinically ill wild rat, which she had found 2 weeks before admission. Tom F.W. Wolfs,* Jaap A. Wagenaar,†Hubert G.M. Niesters,‡ and Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus‡, Rat-to-Human Transmission of Cowpox Infection, EID Journal Home > Volume 15, Number 5–May 2009. url: http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/15/5/contents_v15n5.htm