Canada’s chief public health official said on Friday that provincial health authorities were investigating “several dozen” possible cases of monkeypox, and most of the specimens examined were from Quebec – where five cases were confirmed this week.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament Hill, Dr Teresa Tam said the Winnipeg National Microbiology Laboratory was conducting tests on samples from Quebec and British Columbia and that some of these suspected cases could be confirmed as monkeypox in the coming hours.
“We don’t really know the extent of the spread in Canada. So this is an active investigation, “Tam said. “What we do know is that not many of these people are involved in traveling to Africa, where the disease is common.”
There, he said the overall risk to the population was “low” at the moment, but researchers are now working to determine why smallpox – a disease usually limited to Central and West Africa – appears to be in circulation here in Canada and elsewhere in the West. world.
“That’s unusual,” Tam said. “It is unusual for the world to see so many cases reported in different countries outside of Africa. So I think we’ll let people know as soon as we get more information. “
Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs mainly in tropical forest areas. Historically, most cases have been reported in the Congo Basin.
In a tweet on Friday night, Sante Quebec said there were now five confirmed cases in the province.
Variole simienne: на дата на 20 май, 5 cas ont été confirmedés au Quebec. To save more from this infection, the symptoms and transmission factors:
La prochaine mise à jour des cas confirmés ne sera pas effectuée avant le mardi 24 mai.
– @ sante_qc
There are two main strains or “logs” of monkeypox: the Congo strain, which is heavier – up to 10 percent mortality – and the West African strain, which has a mortality rate of about one percent.
Symptoms may include fever, severe headache, swollen lymph nodes, back pain, muscle aches, and lack of energy. People who are infected can also develop rashes and lesions.
Transmission of monkeypox can be the result of close contact with “respiratory secretions” or skin lesions of an infected person or recently infected objects.
WATCH Monkeypox cases investigated in Canada:
Cases of monkeypox, the show is being investigated in Canada
Health officials are investigating about two dozen suspected cases of monkeypox in Canada, investigating possible chains of transmission of the virus. Despite the global outbreak, doctors say most infections do not appear to be severe.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), transmission through respiratory particles usually requires “prolonged face-to-face contact” – meaning that health workers, family members and other close contacts in active cases are at greater risk from society as a whole. .
In a statement, the WHO said it was helping countries improve their response to outbreaks.
“The WHO is working with affected countries and others to expand surveillance of the disease, to find and support people who may be affected, and to provide guidance on how to manage the disease,” the report said.
“Monkeypox is spread differently than COVID-19. The WHO encourages people to be informed by reliable sources, such as national health authorities, of the extent of the outbreak in their community (if any), symptoms and prevention. “
The organization also stressed the need to avoid stigmatizing anyone because of the virus.
“Stigmatizing groups of people due to illness is never acceptable. This can be a barrier to stopping the outbreak, as it can prevent people from seeking care and lead to undetected outbreaks. “
Smallpox and monkeypox belong to the same “family” of viruses, said Dr. Howard Nju, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer. As a result, the smallpox vaccine has proven effective against its “cousin” against monkeypox in the past.
But the smallpox vaccine has not been in circulation in Canada for decades because smallpox was eradicated here in the late 1940s. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it eradicated worldwide in 1979.
This means that younger people may be more susceptible to monkeypox because the smallpox vaccine was not part of their childhood immunization schedule.
“We are all susceptible and, frankly, the good practices we learned with COVID-19 serve us well against a whole host of diseases, including this one,” Nju said.
WATCH Montreal residents “should not panic” about monkeypox: public health says:
Montreal residents “should not panic” about monkeypox: public health
Dr Milen Druen, director of public health in Montreal, said there were 17 suspected cases in the region, but they were not highly contagious.
He said Canada had an unspecified number of smallpox vaccines on hand. She said she could not say how many were available for “security” reasons.
Doses of the smallpox vaccine have been carefully guarded in Canada because of continuing fears of accidental release of the virus and the risk of it being used for malicious purposes such as terrorism.
There he said that after contacting federal authorities, Quebec is considering deploying the shots in some areas of the province where cases have been reported.
Unlike influenza or COVID-19, monkeypox has a long incubation period. The time from infection to symptoms is usually seven to 14 days, but can vary from five to 21 days. This means that vaccines can be used effectively in people who can develop monkeypox after close contact with an active case, Tam said.
Dr Michael Liebman, director of the JD MacLean Center for Tropical Diseases at McGill University, said the spread of monkeypox was “a prime example of how the spread of human encroachment on previously isolated animal habitats has led to transmission of animal infections to humans. “
“The return of big trips and the close interactions of large numbers of people have once again allowed for an astonishingly rapid spread around the world,” Liebman said.
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