Ontario is not seeing a rapid increase in monkeypox cases and its vaccination strategy appears to be working, says the province’s chief medical officer.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said monkeypox is likely to be around for “many, many months” because of its long incubation period of up to 21 days, but Ontario is not seeing exponential growth of the virus.
“Right now, the number (of cases) is not escalating rapidly, but it is increasing,” Moore said in a recent interview. “We really think it’s stabilizing in Ontario in terms of slow growth.”
Moore said 133 cases had been identified in Ontario as of July 6, with the vast majority in Toronto and most others linked to the city. Public Health Ontario reported 33 cases two weeks earlier.
All registered cases as of July 6 were in men between the ages of 20 and 65.
Monkeypox does not usually spread easily between people and is transmitted by prolonged close contact through respiratory droplets, direct contact with skin lesions or body fluids, or through contaminated clothing or bedding. Symptoms may include rash, oral and genital lesions, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, chills, myalgia, and fatigue.
Public health says most cases are among men who report intimate contact with men, but says anyone can get monkeypox.
Monkeypox disease comes from the same family of viruses that cause smallpox, which the World Health Organization declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Smallpox vaccines have proven effective in fighting the monkeypox virus.
Moore said the province is working “diligently” to vaccinate those who have contracted the virus, as well as close contacts or anyone at risk of contact.
“Over 8,000 people have been given the smallpox vaccine, which we believe has good protection against monkeypox,” he said.
“We were also able to provide treatment, so five Ontarians were treated with a drug called TPoxx, (which is for those) who had severe complications related to monkeypox.”
The province isn’t looking to expand its vaccination strategy right now, Moore said, adding that it “seems to be working.”
“Usually this dose of vaccine has two doses 28 days apart,” Moore said. “We are looking at whether we should go back to those 8,000 individuals and provide a second dose.”
Dr. Alison McGreer, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said the increase in cases in the province is “not alarming” but the situation is still “relatively fragile.”
“We don’t know what it will take to contain the epidemic,” McGreer said. “We’re not entirely sure that the virus hasn’t changed enough to allow for more sustained population transmission.”
McGreer said there is no immediate risk to most of the population from monkeypox.
“It’s really still very much an intervention for populations where we have some risk, and they’re really watching closely to see if there’s been spread outside of those high-risk populations,” McGreer said.
The province’s current vaccination strategy is “the best that can be done right now with the limited supplies we have,” she said.
“The fine line that all jurisdictions are trying to walk is to ensure that people who are at significant risk of monkeypox get access to the vaccine,” McGreer said.
“And that the rest of us who aren’t currently at significant risk from monkeypox aren’t using up the limited supplies we have and aren’t potentially at some small risk that we just don’t know about yet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 11, 2022.
Jessica Smith and Alison Jones, The Canadian Press
Add Comment