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The three-county area has reported its first case of smallpox, the local health unit said Monday.
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Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit officials said the agency “is tracking the first person living in the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark area with laboratory-confirmed smallpox.”
The health unit did not provide further information on the person or their specific place of residence.
The news comes when Ontario’s chief physician says the province is not experiencing rapid growth in monkeypox cases and it looks like its vaccination strategy is working.
Health medical director Dr. Kieran Moore said smallpox in monkeys is likely to exist for “many, many months” due to its long incubation period of up to 21 days, but Ontario is not seeing exponential growth. of the virus.
“Currently the number (of cases) is not increasing rapidly, but it is increasing,” Moore said in a recent interview. “We believe it’s stabilizing in Ontario, in terms of non-rapid growth.”
Moore said 133 cases had been identified in Ontario on July 6, the vast majority were in Toronto and most others connected to the city. Public Health Ontario had reported 33 cases two weeks earlier.
All cases reported since July 6 have been in men between the ages of 20 and 65.
Smallpox can be transmitted from person to person through face-to-face contact with an infected person’s respiratory secretions, direct contact with skin lesions, or contact with contaminated clothing or bedding, officials said. local health unit. Common household disinfectants can kill the monkeypox virus.
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In Ontario, they added, the most common risk factors for developing monkeypox infection include sexual or intimate contact (e.g., hugs, kisses, hugs) with a new partner and / or with more than one.
Symptoms may include rash, oral and genital lesions, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, chills, myalgia, and fatigue. Symptoms usually develop one to two weeks, or in the range of five to 21 days, after exposure.
People with monkeypox symptoms should contact their healthcare provider and avoid close contact with others until symptoms have been diagnosed and the rash or lesions have healed.
Ontario public health officials say most cases are among men who report intimate contact with men, but add that anyone can suffer from monkeypox.
Smallpox vaccines have been shown to be effective in fighting the smallpox virus.
Moore said the province has been working “diligently” to vaccinate people who have contracted the virus, as well as close contacts or anyone at risk of contact.
“More than 8,000 people have received the smallpox vaccine, which we believe has good protection against smallpox,” he said.
Dr. Allison McGreer, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said the increase in cases in the province “is not causing alarm,” but the situation is still “relatively fragile.”
“We don’t know what it will take to control the outbreak,” McGreer said. “We are not entirely sure that the virus has not changed enough to allow for more sustained transmission to populations.”
McGreer said there is no immediate risk to the majority of the monkeypox population.
“This is really an intervention for populations where we have a defined risk, and they are watching closely to identify if there has been any spread outside of these high-risk populations,” McGreer said.
(With files from The Canadian Press)