Authorities in Quebec say 90 cases of monkeypox have been found in the province

The Quebec Ministry of Health says there are a total of 90 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the province.

That number rose from 71 confirmed cases reported last week.

Monkeypox is a rare disease that comes from the same family of viruses that cause smallpox, which the World Health Organization declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.

Monkeypox is not usually easily spread among humans and is transmitted through prolonged close contact through respiratory droplets, direct contact with skin lesions or body fluids, or through contaminated clothing or bedding.

Quebec began offering a smallpox vaccine to certain close contacts of infected people in late May, and the health ministry says it has vaccinated 813 people since then.

Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia have also reported cases of monkeypox, although the majority of cases in Canada are in Quebec.

WATCH Montreal epidemiologist Dr. Christopher Labos explains the outbreaks of monkeypox:

There are many outbreaks of monkeypox worldwide, says the epidemiologist

The findings of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that there are two different outbreaks of monkeypox in the United States mean that the virus may have escaped from West Africa many times, says epidemiologist Dr. Christopher Labos.