New Brunswick is prepared if any cases of monkeypox are confirmed in the province, the acting medical director of health says.
Public Health currently has 140 doses of the Imvamune vaccine on hand, said Dr. Yves Léger.
“They will be used in accordance with NACI (National Advisory Committee on Immunization) guidelines. So specifically to manage cases and contacts,” he said.
The post-exposure vaccine can lessen the severity of the disease or prevent it entirely, according to health officials.
On Thursday, Newfoundland and Labrador announced it has a probable case. Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rosann Seviour would not confirm where the likely case originated, but noted that most viruses enter the province through travel.
Contact tracing is underway, and anyone identified as a close contact of a person who has smallpox will be offered a vaccine, Seviour said.
A total of 745 cases of monkeypox have now been confirmed across Canada: 346 in Quebec, 326 in Ontario, 58 in BC, 12 in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan and one in the Yukon.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) deemed the international outbreak of the virus a global emergency, its highest alert level.
The number of cases worldwide has increased by 48% from the previous week, and the disease has now spread to 75 countries, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
More than 16,000 cases have been reported worldwide, although officials believe the true number is higher.
You still have time to stop the spread
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s director of public health, said Wednesday that the spread of monkeypox is “of great concern.”
Still, “there is optimism that by focusing efforts in Canada and around the world, we can take advantage of this window of opportunity to contain the spread,” he said during a news conference.
He noted that the disease has so far been almost exclusively limited to men, with 99% of those infected being men and over 36 years of age. In Canada, most reported cases have been among men who have sex with men.
The number of monkeypox cases in Canada has doubled in less than a month, with confirmed cases in five provinces and one territory, and a probable case announced Thursday in another province. (FPDay6MonkeyPox)
Tam says the outbreak in Canada can be stopped by using targeted strategies targeting the right groups of people.
Those strategies, he said, could include a public awareness campaign focused on gay and bisexual men through community organizations, educational settings and dating apps like Grindr.
“Working behind the scenes quite easily”
New Brunswick Public Health “has certainly been working behind the scenes quite easily to make sure we’re prepared for any cases that come up here,” Léger said.
This includes developing guidance on how to manage cases and contacts, and surveillance activities, he said.
“There will be some communication activities that will be done on this topic as well.”
Léger was unable to provide further details.
Earlier this month, Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said Public Health was working on a public awareness campaign, which will include prevention and risk messages.
A color transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (teal) inside an infected cell (brown), shown in a handout photo captured at the Institute’s Center for Integrated Research National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases)
Tam said little is known about how monkeypox spreads and how people can protect themselves.
But he urged vulnerable groups, such as men who have sex with men, to get vaccinated to slow the spread.
Canada has a sufficient supply of the vaccine at the moment, he said. About 70,000 doses of Imvamune have been sent to the provinces and approximately 27,000 of them have been administered, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The national health agency also urges men who have sex with men to practice safe sex and to limit their number of partners, especially if those partners are known casuals.
In addition to the public awareness campaign, New Brunswick Public Health is putting together some resources for doctors, Russell said. Many doctors have probably never seen a case, noted Dr. Mark MacMillan, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society.
Monkeypox is an orthopoxvirus that causes a disease with similar but less severe symptoms than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, monkeypox is usually a mild illness and most people recover on their own after a few weeks. But some people can get very sick and even die.