This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a smallpox monkey virus, obtained from a sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Alberta Health says the province has identified a case of monkeypox. THE CANADIAN PRESS / AP-Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner, CDC
Alberta’s medical director confirms the province’s first case of smallpox in the province
On Wednesday, Quebec confirmed 52 cases of smallpox
Alberta’s medical director says the province has identified a case of smallpox.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw says in a social media post that an adult has tested positive for the rare disease that can cause fever, pain and rashes.
He also says that the monkey’s smallpox does not spread easily among people.
Smallpox smallpox is usually spread by close person-to-person contact through respiratory droplets, direct contact with skin lesions or body fluids, or indirect contact through contaminated clothing or sheets.
He says the first person in the province to test positive for the disease had close contact with a known case outside the province.
On Wednesday, Quebec confirmed 52 cases of smallpox in the province and Toronto Public Health says a man in his 40s is the second confirmed case in the city.
RELATED: WHO: The monkey’s smallpox will not become a pandemic, but many unknowns
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