At least 19 people in three Midwestern states have contracted a disease related to smallpox, marking the first outbreak of the life-threatening illness in the United States, federal heath officials said yesterday....

The disease, known as monkeypox, usually only occurs in central and western Africa. It is caused by a virus known as an orthopox virus, which is the family of viruses that includes the smallpox virus, one of the most dangerous diseases known to man and a feared biological weapon....

While much about the monkeypox virus is unclear, it does not seem to be as deadly as smallpox. Authorities estimate that monkeypox has a mortality rate of between 1 percent and 10 percent, compared with a mortality rate of about 30 percent for smallpox.

The monkeypox virus is believed to spread through physical contact with a sick person or infected animal, or through infected body fluids, although health officials said it apparently is not as easily spread as smallpox, which is highly infectious.

Reinstating the Goober of the Month award, to be shared by certain Midwestern pet suppliers mentioned in the following AP story excerpt:

Federal health officials believe the disease spread may have started with prairie dogs being infected with monkeypox by a Gambian rat at a Villa Park, Ill., pet distributor.

South Milwaukee pet distributor SK Exotics purchased some of the prairie dogs and moved them to Wisconsin, and two pet stores in the Milwaukee area purchased them.

Mike Hoffer, owner of Hoffer TropicLife, said he got a shipment of 10 prairie dogs from SK Exotics on May 5 but didn't sell any once his staff noticed they were sniffling. Seven of them were euthanized Wednesday and the others died earlier of a respiratory ailment, he said.

He said he has been selling prairie dogs at a rate of about 20 to 25 a year over the last decade.

"They're cute," Hoffer said. "They fall into place someplace between a guinea pig and a rabbit. I think people are maybe blowing it out of proportion."