There have been 15 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Canada, and the number is expected to climb as additional samples arrive for laboratory testing.
Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said on Tuesday that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has verified ten new cases of monkeypox in Quebec, increasing the total number of cases in Canada to 15. “We expect additional cases to be confirmed in the coming days,” he continued. “More samples from other jurisdictions in Canada are on their way to PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg for confirming testing.”
Last week, the first instances of the viral sickness, which is normally prevalent in Africa’s Congo Basin, were discovered in Canada.
To combat the epidemic in Quebec, a limited consignment of the vaccine Imvavune is being delivered there.
He emphasized that this was a “different circumstance” from what occurred when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out in 2020. “While worldwide understanding of the monkeypox virus is still growing,” Duclos said, “we do have a supply of vaccinations that we will make sure to preserve, and we are working hand-in-hand with our provincial and territorial colleagues to carry out our response plan as swiftly as possible.”
He mentioned that public health interventions like physical separation, handwashing, and respiratory etiquette like wearing masks might help “lower” the “risk” of developing monkeypox.
PHAC said the mode of transmission “is through close contact with an infected individual, such as through direct contact with their body fluids, respiratory droplets, or monkeypox sores, or by sharing clothing, bedding, or common items that have been contaminated with the infected person’s fluids or sores,” in a statement released on Thursday, when the first two cases were identified.
Fever, headache, muscular pains, tiredness, and enlarged lymph nodes are common signs and symptoms of monkeypox, as is a rash that emerges a few days after symptoms like fever start.
