The Sconi

Dr. Kurt Zaeske survived monkeypox in 2003 and recently described how quickly he became ill after handling a specimen of a sick animal. 

Monkeypox is on the rise around the world, with instances discovered in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Italy and the United States, a recent WISN report said. It brings back recollections of the 2003 outbreak in Wisconsin. Those cases arose from prairie dogs sold in Wisconsin that were discovered to have the disease.

"Within about 48 hours of my handling that specimen I became ill," Zaeske told WISN. 

Other health officials warned of how the virus can be spread.

"Direct contact with the skin lesion of monkeypox can transmit the virus," former Milwaukee Health Commissioner Dr. Seth Foldy said during the 2003 outbreak. 

Current health officials insist that they have measures in place to deal with a health crisis like this should it ever occur again.

"This is not something that's completely unfamiliar to us," current Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson told WISN. "There is a process within the state of Wisconsin and in the Milwaukee Health Department with how you manage the communicable disease, of which monkeypox is one, and we're prepared to manage it."

A CDC report later explained the 2003 monkeypox outbreak. 

"A search of imported animal records revealed that Gambian giant rats were shipped from Ghana in April to a wildlife importer in Texas and subsequently were sold to the Illinois distributor," the CDC report said. "The shipment contained approximately 800 small mammals of nine different species that might have been the actual source of introduction of monkeypox."