Canada now has 477 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the country, with the number rising in three provinces in the past week, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said Wednesday.
A total of 177 new cases have been confirmed in the country since July 4, which represents a 59% increase in the number of cases over the past nine days.
Quebec continues to have the lion’s share of the viral illness, with 284 cases as of July 13, up from 211 last week.
But Ontario saw the largest increase in cases of any province, going from 77 cases on July 4 to now having 156 confirmed cases. British Columbia also saw an increase in cases for the first time in weeks, with 29 now confirmed, compared to four previously. Alberta continues to have just eight confirmed cases, unchanged from the last update.
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Monkeypox, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, is transmitted to humans from animals caused by orthopoxvirus, which is related to smallpox, according to PHAC.
Individuals can become infected by direct contact with an infected person or by sharing contaminated items, including bedding or towels.
“PHAC continues to collect and analyze epidemiological information reported by the provinces and territories to help define the national scope of the investigation and determine whether there are increased risks to the health of people in Canada,” the agency said in a statement released on Wednesday.
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About 60 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with confirmed cases now at 10,400. The disease occurs mainly in West and Central Africa and only occasionally spreads elsewhere.
The World Health Organization announced on Tuesday that its emergency committee on monkeypox would reconvene next week and look at trends in the outbreak and how effective countermeasures against the virus have been.
The committee will also make recommendations on what countries and communities should do to deal with the outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday during a briefing in Geneva.
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Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, is in close contact with her provincial and territorial counterparts to ensure that monkeypox cases in Canada continue to be rapidly identified and managed, the statement said of PHAC.
National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Man. is performing diagnostic tests for the virus and conducting whole-genome sequencing — enhanced fingerprinting — on Canadian monkeypox samples, the agency added.
“This sequence will help our experts understand the chains of transmission occurring in Canada,” says PHAC.
– with files from Reuters.
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