European Commission bans import of prairie dogs from the US
and rodents and squirrels from sub-Saharan Africa
The European Union standing committee on the Food Chain
and Animal Health has agreed to ban the import of prairie dogs (
Cynomys
sp.) from the United States, and rodents of non-domestic species and
squirrels from sub-Saharan Africa because of the risk of monkeypox (1). The
decision will be adopted by the European Commission.
To date, 93 cases of human monkeypox linked with exposure to prairie dogs
and other small mammals have been reported in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,
Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin in the US (2). Investigations to trace the
source of the outbreak have identified a common distributor where prairie
dogs and Gambian giant rats (shipped from Ghana) were housed together in
Illinois (3).
In the US an embargo has been placed on the importation of all rodents
from Africa. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food
and Drug Administration are prohibiting the transportation or offering for
transportation in interstate commerce, or the sale, offering for sale, or
offering for any other type of commercial or public distribution, including
release into the environment, of prairie dogs and the following rodents
from Africa: tree squirrels, rope squirrels, dormice, Gambian giant pouched
rats, brush-tailed porcupines, and striped mice (3). Individual States in
the US already have powers to prohibit the importation, sale, distribution,
or display of animals that could result in transmission of infectious agents.