Eleven cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Ottawa

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Ottawa Public Health offers vaccines to eligible clients at its Sexual Health Clinic and operates ongoing vaccination clinics at the Centretown Community Health Centre.

This 2003 electron microscope image, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows oval-shaped mature monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a human skin sample associated with the outbreak of prairie dogs in 2003. Photo by AP-Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC/The Canadian Press

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A month after the first case was identified in Ottawa, 11 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the city, Public Health Ontario reports.

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The majority of Ontario cases remain concentrated in Toronto, where 124 have been laboratory confirmed. Cases are also starting to appear in smaller centres, including Leeds, Grenville and Lanark, which reported their first confirmed case earlier this week.

There are now 156 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Ontario and eight suspected cases: all but one are men.

The average age of confirmed cases was 37.3 years, and the most commonly reported symptoms included rash, oral or genital lesions, swollen lymph nodes, headache, fever, chills, myalgia, and fatigue.

Only nine of the people with confirmed cases had to be hospitalized, according to the PHO.

The province’s chief health officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, noted that there has not been a recent surge in monkeypox cases, which he attributes to the vaccination strategy.

More than 8,000 people across the province have received the smallpox vaccine, which is given to those who have contracted the virus, their close contacts and anyone considered at risk.

Ottawa Public Health offers the vaccine to eligible clients at its sexual health clinic and operates ongoing vaccination clinics at the Centretown Community Health Centre.

The vaccine is available to people who have been exposed to the virus plus people who have been diagnosed with a bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the past two months, had two or more sexual partners in the past 21 days, visited a site of sexual contact within 21 days, had anonymous casual sex during the same time period, or had sex for work.

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Monkeypox, which belongs to the same family as smallpox, was rarely seen outside parts of Africa where it is endemic until this year, when cases began to spread to many parts of the world.

On Tuesday, as global cases reached 9,200, the World Health Organization announced it would convene a second emergency meeting next week to determine whether monkeypox poses a global health threat.

Cases have been reported in 63 countries since the start of this year. There are just over 6,000 cases reported worldwide as of July 4.

Health officials say monkeypox, which causes a rash and lesions along with flu-like symptoms, is not a sexually transmitted disease and can be spread through close contact. Most cases so far have been among men who have had sex with men.

The virus can enter the body through broken skin, airways, or mucous membranes, including the eyes, nose, or mouth.

The risk of infection is low for the general population, says the Public Health Agency of Canada.