Friday, March 29

Pennsylvania woman fears rage after touching monkeys after crash


A Pennsylvania woman has been prescribed medication over health fears after she came face-to-face with several lab monkeys who escaped a truck accident.

Michele Fallon jumped out of her car to help when she saw a pickup truck, carrying 100 cynomolgus macaque monkeys, collide with a garbage truck on a state highway outside of Danville on Friday.

“I thought I was doing the right thing by helping out,” Fallon told local television station WBRE.

But when he started to look at the dozens of boxes falling from the truck, he came across one of the agitated monkeys.

She recalled another motorist saying he thought he saw a cat running across the street just as she peered into one of the boxes and saw the monkey staring at her.

Fallon was later alarmed when officials warned the public not to go near or near four escaped monkeys because they could carry disease. He contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which told him to take immediate precautions.

Michelle Fallon (right) witnessed the accident and immediately tried to help the two drivers who were transporting animals.
Michelle Fallon (right) witnessed the accident and immediately tried to help the two drivers who were transporting animals.
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Michelle Fallon said she now fears she may have been infected with rabies due to an open cut that was exposed to monkeys.
Michelle Fallon said she now fears she may have been infected with rabies due to an open cut that was exposed to monkeys.
WNEP

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

Fallon opted to go to the hospital because she had an open cut on her hand and began developing symptoms of conjunctivitis, which she feared might be related to the monkeys.

He received an initial dose of the rabies vaccine and must take antiviral medication for the next two weeks.

The monkeys had just arrived from Africa and were on their way to a CDC-approved secure facility when the accident occurred.
The monkeys had just arrived from Africa and were on their way to a CDC-approved secure facility when the accident occurred.
Jimmy May/Bloomsburg Press Enterprise via A
Game Commission Officers stand still as Pennsylvania State Troopers prepare to search for several monkeys that have escaped from their cages.
Game Commission officers pull over as Pennsylvania State Police prepare to search for several monkeys that have escaped from their cages.
Jimmy May/Bloomsburg Press Enterprise via AP
A Pennsylvania woman fears she contracted rabies after unknowingly exposing an open wound to a box of 100 monkeys.
A Pennsylvania woman fears she contracted rabies after unknowingly exposing an open wound to a box of 100 monkeys.
Departure from the Pennsylvania State Police

“Because the monkey hissed at me and there was feces around, and I had an open cut, they just want to be cautious,” Fallon said.

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When he decided to stop and help, Fallon said, the driver never warned him about the dozens of monkeys he was transporting.

“He just asked if his trailer was okay. He never said, ‘If you go near a box, don’t touch it,’ if he had told me that, I would have been more careful,” Fallon said.

According to the CDC, three of the monkeys were euthanized, but they did not give a reason.
According to the CDC, three of the monkeys were euthanized, although the agency did not give a reason.
Pennsylvania State Police
Boxes with live monkeys are picked up next to the trailer in which they were transported along State Route 54 on January 21, 2022.
Boxes with live monkeys are picked up next to the trailer in which they were transported along State Route 54 on January 21, 2022.
(Jimmy May/Bloomsburg Press Enterprise via AP)

The lab monkeys had just arrived from Africa and were on their way to a CDC-approved quarantine facility in Florida at the time of the accident.

All 100 monkeys were accounted for Saturday afternoon, and three had been euthanized for undisclosed reasons, a CDC spokesman said.


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