(Headline USA) In January, the escape of three monkeys from a crashed truck near Danville, Pa., led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to send out a letter warning anyone who encountered them to self-monitor for cold-like symptoms.
It followed on the heels of an equally shocking report that COVID czar Anthony Fauci had long been conducting cruel vaccine-related experiments on Rhesus monkeys, prompting condemnation from the animal-rights activist group PETA, according to Fox News.
An investigation by the White Coat Waste Project alleged that the monkeys were being raised on Morgan Island, off the coast of Beaufort, SC, to be injected with all manner of deadly diseases.
.@RepNancyMace on her efforts to spotlight the federal government's experiments on dogs and monkeys: "Animals and animal experiments are not right or left. This is an issue that can bring both sides of the aisle together."#NextRevFNC pic.twitter.com/GMcYZ16ek0
— The Next Revolution (@NextRevFNC) December 13, 2021
The news shocked many, who suspected something even more sinister than monkey-torture may be afoot.
It fueled questions as to whether the next COVID-type pandemic, engineered as part of Fauci’s illicit gain-of-function research experiments to obtain more patents for himself, might happen not in a remote Chinese province but on America’s own shores.
One woman who had come in contact with the escaped Pennsylvania monkeys alarmingly reported cold-like symptoms, a cough and symptoms similar to pink eye, the Gateway Pundit reported.
More recently, an outbreak of bird flu has fueled more conspiracies about whether government-backed health officials may be behind the effort, whether to incubate another health crisis or to exacerbate an impending food shortage that would force Americans to embrace soy-based protein substitutes.
But the loose threads all seemed to connect on Wednesday after Massachusetts reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada. Health officials claimed to be looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe.
Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the U.S. and elsewhere are usually linked to travel there. A small number of confirmed or suspected cases have been reported this month in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.
U.S. health officials said they are in contact with officials in the U.K. and Canada as part of the investigation.
But “at this point in time, we don’t have any information that links the Massachusetts case to cases in the UK,” said CDC spokesperson Jennifer McQuiston.
Though it’s the only U.S. case the CDC is aware of, “I do think we are preparing for the possibility of more cases,” she said.
The U.S. case poses no risk to the public, and the Massachusetts resident is hospitalized but in good condition, officials said.
The man traveled to Canada at the end of April to meet friends and returned in early May, McQuiston said. A CDC statement said he used private transportation.
The case is the first in the U.S. this year. Last year, Texas and Maryland each reported a case in people who traveled to Nigeria.
Monkeypox typically begins with a flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes, followed by a rash on the face and body. In Africa, people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals, and it does not usually spread easily among people.
However, investigators in Europe say most of the cases have been in gay or bisexual men, and officials are looking into the possibility that some infections were spread through close contact during sex.
Monkeypox comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox. Most people recover from monkeypox within weeks, but the disease is fatal for up to 1 in 10 people, according to the World Health Organization.
At its peak, the fatality rate of COVID-19 in the US was only about 6%—or 0.6 in 10.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
