Canada now has 58 confirmed cases of monkeypox, Canada’s head of public health said Friday.
Of the cases identified so far by laboratory tests, 52 are from Quebec, five from Ontario and one from Alberta.
The figure is about ten times higher than the five confirmed cases that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported nationwide late last month.
Although a disproportionate number of cases have been reported in this outbreak of smallpox between gay and bisexual men, the director of public health, Dr. Theresa Tam, told reporters on Friday that all groups are potentially susceptible to the virus.
“The risk of exposure is not exclusively related to any group or environment. Regardless of your gender or sexual orientation, anyone could become infected and spread the virus if they come into close contact, including intimate sexual contact, with an infected person. or contaminated. objects, “Tam said.
With this warning, Tam said it is important for public health officials to “learn from the HIV experience” and “involve communities from the beginning that are most affected.”
He said governments need to “act quickly” to “stop the transmission chains” and prevent the virus from spreading further.
“So far it hasn’t gone beyond the initial risk groups, but it could happen and we need to be prepared for that,” he said.
Public health director Dr Theresa Tam (left) said public health officials and governments should take lessons from the HIV crisis in their responses to the monkey’s smallpox. (Sean Kilpatrick / Canadian Press)
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued public health advice to gays, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men last week, urging the community to be on the lookout for certain symptoms – a blistering rash in face, hands, feet, eyes and mouth, fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, muscle aches and lack of energy.
Quebec seems to be an epicenter of this outbreak. The province has begun vaccinating close contacts of infected people – an approach called “ring vaccination” to prevent a wider outbreak.
Tam said Canada has a stockpile of smallpox ready to be deployed to other parts of the country, if necessary.
Smallpox and smallpox belong to the same virus family and the smallpox vaccine has been shown to be effective against smallpox in the past. But this trait has not circulated in Canada for decades because smallpox was eradicated here in the late 1940s.
Smallpox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs mainly in rainforests. Historically, most cases have been reported in the Congo Basin.
A boy suffering from smallpox from the monkey sits on his father’s legs while receiving treatment at the center of the international medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Zomea Kaka, Lobaya region, Central African Republic on 18 October. 2018. (Charles Bouessel / AFP / Getty Images)
The appearance of this virus in Western countries has confused researchers. To date, the WHO has identified at least 550 cases of smallpox in 30 countries around the world where the virus is not thought to be endemic.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Dr. David Heymann, who heads the WHO’s emergency department, said the main theory behind the spread of the disease is sexual transmission between gay and bisexual men in the United States. two radishes celebrated in Spain and Belgium.
“We know that monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with someone’s injured lesions, and it seems that sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,” Heymann said.
A senior health official in Madrid said last week that the Spanish capital has confirmed 30 cases so far.
Enrique Ruiz Escudero said authorities are investigating possible links between a recent Pride event in the Canary Islands, which drew some 80,000 people, and cases at a sauna in Madrid.
UK officials have said “a significant proportion” of cases in Britain and Europe have occurred among young men with no history of trips to Africa who are gay, bisexual or have sex with men.
Authorities in Portugal and Spain also said their cases were among men who mostly had sex with other men and whose infections were detected when they sought help for injuries to sexual health clinics.
Officials need to better prepare the gay community: experts
Some observers from the gay community have said that public health officials are not doing enough to directly alert men who have sex with men about the risk of monkeypox.
“Many well-meaning officials seem to be afraid to say something homophobic, and the media has published articles emphasizing that the monkey’s smallpox ‘is not a gay disease,'” Jim Downs, a professor of infectious disease history, recently argued. in the Atlantic.
“Their caution is justified, but health agencies are putting gay men at risk unless they prioritize them for interventions such as public awareness campaigns, vaccinations and tests.”
As Pride Celebrations begin for a month, public health experts James Krellenstein, Joseph Osmundson and Keletso Makofane also said in a recent New York Times article that health officials should take bolder steps to raise awareness about disease and expand the vaccine. availability among men who have sex with men.
Citing how public health officials mobilized to contain a bacterial meningitis outbreak in New York City a decade ago, these experts called for specific solutions for the gay community.
“Health officials provided vaccinations to nightlife venues and places where men meet for sex,” they wrote. “As the summer and Pride holidays approach, we need similar approaches to help us stay safe.”