Outbreak of Human Monkeypox, Democratic Republic of Congo, 1996 to 1997

Abstract

Human monkeypox, a sporadic smallpox-like zoonotic viral exanthema that occurs in the rain forests of Central and West Africa, was discovered in 1970 (1-3). The illness is caused by an orthopoxvirus, monkeypox virus, which was first isolated from primate tissues (4). Animal antibody surveys in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC; former Zaire) suggested that squirrels play a major role as a reservoir of the virus and that humans are sporadically infected Human-to-human transmission occurs with an incubation period of 12 days (range 7-21 days) (3).