Pennsylvania Woman Allegedly Develops Symptoms After Coming Into Close Contact With Monkey En Route to CDC-Approved Quarantine Facility

On Friday, a truck driver carrying 100 crab-eating macaques crashed into a dump truck outside of Danville, Pennsylvania.

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.

The CDC said the agency was providing “technical assistance” to state police in Pennsylvania.

After a collision on a state highway near an Interstate 80 exit in Pennsylvania’s Montour County, several monkeys escaped the crash site.

Lab test monkey on the loose after truck crash in Pennsylvania https://t.co/22aIiLWIXU pic.twitter.com/YJ4XYCJOmM

— New York Post (@nypost) January 22, 2022

https://twitter.com/Aviatrixone/status/1485794583304974336

ABC 7 Chicago explained:

The last of the escaped monkeys from the crash of a truck towing a trailer load of 100 of the animals were accounted for by late Saturday, a day after the pickup collided with a dump truck on a Pennsylvania highway, authorities said.

Several monkeys had escaped following Friday’s collision, Pennsylvania State Police said. But only one had remained unaccounted for as of Saturday morning, prompting the Pennsylvania Game Commission and other agencies to launch a search for it amid frigid weather.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson with the 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 email did not elaborate on why the three were euthanized or how all came to be accounted for. But Nordlund said those euthanized were done so humanely according to American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines.

The New York Post added:

Cynomolgus monkeys, as the species is also known, can cost more than $10,000, and were used as test subjects for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a report.

The intelligent, social primates are also known to utilize stone tools in the wild.

But the latest developments have made this story even stranger.

According to reports, a Danville woman has allegedly developed symptoms after coming into close contact with one of the monkeys beside the interstate.

Witness at scene of CDC lab monkeys crash has developed symptoms – Harrisburg100 https://t.co/c93tr9KHps

— Rank Badjin (@badjin_rank) January 25, 2022

So apparently the woman who was exposed to the diseased monkeys is now sick, bc of course lol.

"Fallon says she grew concerned because she has an open cut on her hand & developed pink-eye like symptoms, so she went to the emergency room."https://t.co/uEjZYUPRRE

— Jordan Schachtel @ dossier.today (@JordanSchachtel) January 25, 2022

She now has symptoms.https://t.co/0il3AL4e4m https://t.co/598NWugaj4

— Woke Zombie 🇺🇸😊 (@AWokeZombie) January 25, 2022

PAhomepage reported:

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.

“I thought I was just doing the right thing by helping — I had no idea it would turn out this way,” said Fallon

Fallon says on Friday she saw a truck hauling a trailer collide with a dump truck where Route 54 meets Interstate 80. She pulled over to help the driver.

“He just asked if his trailer was okay. He never said, ‘if you do come near a crate do not touch it,’ if he would have told me that, I would have been more careful.”

That’s when Fallon came face-to-face with an agitated monkey.

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.

cont.

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.

“Because the monkey did hiss at me and there were feces around, and I did have an open cut, they just want to be precautious,” said Fallon.

Fallon will be on preventative medicine for about two weeks.

This is a developing story.