PA - Danville woman concerned for her health after coming face-to-face with monkey following crash

[Mary Wilson]

Posted: Jan 24, 2022 / 09:59 PM EST
Updated: Jan 25, 2022 / 10:30 AM EST

VALLEY TOWNSHIP, MONTOUR COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — All of the escaped monkeys from Friday night’s crash are now accounted for, but public health concerns remain.

Michele Fallon of Danville says she’s concerned for her health after coming into close contact with one of the monkeys on the side of the interstate.

Fallon says she never could have imagined that trying to be a good Samaritan would lead to this.

She just received her first dose of rabies vaccine and a round of anti-viral medication, after a monkey hissed in her face at the scene the crash in Valley Township.

... The truck was hauling 100 cynomolgus macaque monkeys from Africa, headed to a lab in Missouri for testing. The three monkeys that escaped have since been recovered.

But during the search, officials warned the public not to come near the monkeys because they could transmit disease.

“I was close to the monkeys, I touched the crates, I walked through their feces so I was very close. So I called to inquire, you know, was I safe?” said Fallon

Since the monkeys were not quarantined and monitored, the CDC told Fallon she needs to take precautions because she was in close contact.

According to the CDC, this species commonly spreads herpes virus B through saliva, feces or urine.

Fallon says she grew concerned because she has an open cut on her hand and developed pink-eye like symptoms, so she went to the emergency room at Geisinger Danville. ...

https://www.pahomepage.com/news/dan...ing-face-to-face-with-monkey-following-crash/

 

[Mary Wilson]

@DrEricDing

... if the@CDCgov needed to issue this warning letter to first responders and close contacts, then precautions should have been taken before hand with the truck! Which again, the truck was headed to a CDC lab in Missouri without prior quarantine of the African monkeys.

2:10 PM · Jan 25, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1486068883803021315

 

[Mary Wilson]

All 100 lab monkeys accounted for after several escape crash

January 23, 2022, 7:16 AM
ByThe Associated Press

... Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an email Saturday evening that all 100 of the cynomolgus macaque monkeys had since been accounted for. Three were dead after being euthanized.

... The shipment of monkeys was en route to a CDC-approved quarantine facility after arriving Friday morning at New York’s Kennedy Airport from Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, police said. The Atlanta-based CDC said the agency was providing “technical assistance” to state police in Pennsylvania.

... The location of the quarantine facility and the type of research for which the monkeys were apparently destined weren’t clear, but cynomolgus monkeys are often used in medical studies. ...

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/approach-lab-monkey-missing-crash-people-told-82415778

 

[Emily]

Hope the good Samaritan will be OK. The pandemic has enabled way too much NHP research. I wonder where the poor monkeys were headed? https://saenonline.org/mo/res-fr-mo.html


Eric Feigl-Ding

@DrEricDing

9) All the major outlets say 3 monkeys, but also that all monkeys accounted for. I’m going to assume maybe the 4th was a miscount. But the part about the monkeys being euthanized was sad. Likely research lab monkeys according to the article. So sad.

abcnews.go.com
Don't approach lab monkey missing after crash, people told
Residents are being warned not to approach a lab monkey that is missing after a Pennsylvania traffic crash

2:02 PM · Jan 25, 2022·Twitter for iPhone



J. Paul Kirby
@JPaulKirby
10h

Replying to@DrEricDing

Big fan of @DrEricDing
, but this unveils the blind spot of many scientists. The part about them being lab monkeys was the sad part, however necessary. The part about them being killed was the silver lining, because they were spared whatever awaited them in the lab. #RealityCheck

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Emily]

State police photo of one of the poor monkeys taking refuge in a tree before he was shot. PETA says the monkeys were from Mauritius.

https://www.dailyitem.com/news/upda...cle_92ccc8de-7e50-11ec-90ac-d7404d6e3782.html
UPDATE Danville woman not sick from monkey exposure

• By Francis Scarcella [email]fscarcella@dailyitem.com[/email]
• Jan 26, 2022

...

“I want people to know I am not sick, I found out I was at a birthday party Friday night and people there had COVID-19,” she said. “I was exposed to the monkeys and exposed to people with COVID. It was the worst day of my life.”
...

“When I picked up the cloth a monkey popped up and hissed at me,” she said. “I said, ‘oh, my God it’s a monkey’ and I backed away and the driver told me to not go near them because they were not quarantined and he had to get back to Missouri.”

Fallon said medical responders began to arrive as well as the media.

“The driver started to yell at the media and told the trooper he didn’t want them taking pictures because he didn’t want this incident to get out,” she said. “The trooper said the media could take pictures and he couldn’t stop them.”

Call from CDC

Fallon said she didn’t think anything of it until she got a call from the CDC...

 

[Emily]

The monkeys of Mauritius are targeted by researchers because of genetic characteristics.

https://www.mauritiusprimaterescue.com/

This is the beautiful Island of Mauritius where the monkeys are stolen from their home to ultimately wind up in gruesome research labs.

The primates are then flown on 30-40 hour cargo flights. Imagine being a monkey with boundless energy and being crated up as cargo and how much they suffer on the flights.
(This video contains graphic images.)

Only to wind up at Primate Products in Hendry County Florida. Where they are treated as products and pregnant monkeys are having their fetuses aborted and being sold to labs for body parts and fluid.

Then for the monkeys who survive the cargo flights and Primate Products they are then sent to research labs all over the USA....