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Tiny outbreak is monkeypox, officials say

MADISON, Wis. - Tests have confirmed that four people in Wisconsin contracted the monkeypox virus after coming into close contact with pet prairie dogs, marking the first time the disease has been discovered in the Western Hemisphere, health officials said Sunday.

The findings at least partially confirm that monkeypox has caused an outbreak of rashes, fevers and chills in people across the upper Midwest since early May. Monkeypox is a viral infection that is related to smallpox.

Fourteen more people in Wisconsin are suspected of suffering from the virus, said Milwaukee Health Commissioner Dr. Seth Foldy. At least 11 more cases in Indiana and three in Illinois are suspected.

The outbreak stems from a batch of prairie dogs that came from a pet distributor in suburban Chicago. It was there that the prairie dogs may have been infected with monkeypox by a Gambian rat - a rodent indigenous to African countries.

The human death rate in Africa has ranged from 1 to 10 percent, but Foldy said the virus may be less lethal in the United States, because people are typically better nourished and medical technology is far more advanced.

DENVER - Frustrated and angry over delays, a coalition of the nation's mayors asked federal officials on Sunday to bypass state governments and give them the money they need to beef up homeland security.

"I'm not asking for a handout, I'm asking for a partnership," Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson told Undersecretary of Homeland Security Michael Brown at the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Abramson said that in the first round of homeland security funding, Kentucky got $9-million and only $200,000 went to his city.

"We have 20 percent of the state's population and yet we got just 2 percent of the money," he said.

L.A. CRASH CLAIMS NEW VICTIM: A fifth person was confirmed dead Sunday in the wreckage of an apartment building that was hit by a single-engine airplane.

Coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said the latest confirmed victim had been riding in the plane.