Since its unusual appearance in the West this spring, monkeypox has been a topic of discussion among Canadians as officials work to limit its spread.
On Wednesday, Canada reported a 59% increase in monkeypox cases over the past week, reflecting an increasing trend in cases worldwide.
Read more: Monkeypox cases in Canada increase by 59% in 9 days
While cases are on the rise, the risk to the general population remains low, but that doesn’t mean Canadians don’t have to be vigilant, health experts say.
“If you’re not part of this community at risk at the moment, that doesn’t mean it’s impervious to the virus. It just means that, at the moment, it’s not something that should worry you or cause you anxiety,” he said. say Dr. Don Vinh, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Center.
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“I would suggest that you allow the medical, scientific and public health communities to bear this burden of anxiety. We will implement the necessary steps to try to intervene, either at the individual or community level, but I don’t think people should panic or anguish apart from being informed or polite ”.
The case of monkeypox counts climbing in Canada
Canada now has 477 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the country since its inception as part of the unusual global outbreak that began in May.
Between 4 and 13 July, a total of 177 new cases have been confirmed in the country, representing a 59% increase in the number of cases during this time period.
2:46 WHO director calls for more tests, more access to vaccines and antivirals to fight monkeypox The WHO director calls for more tests, more access to vaccines and antivirals to fight monkeypox – 29 June 2022
Quebec continues to have most of the viral disease, with 284 cases as of July 13, up from 211 cases last week.
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But Ontario saw the largest increase in cases in all provinces, going from 156 cases to 77 on July 4th.
British Columbia also saw an increase in cases for the first time in weeks, with 29 cases confirmed compared to the previous four. Alberta continues to have only eight confirmed cases, with no changes since the last update.
While confirmed cases account for the increase in the figure, other reasons, such as improved surveillance, are also playing a role, said Dr. Sameer Elsayed, an infectious disease specialist at Western University.
“There is a greater awareness of the disease,” he said.
“More people think of monkeypox when they see someone with a rash that might be compatible with monkeypox.”
Read more: Monkeypox: more than 6,000 reported cases, leading to the second WHO emergency meeting
Smallpox smallpox, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, is transmitted to humans by animals caused by an orthopoxvirus, which is related to smallpox, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
People can become infected through direct contact with an infected person or from shared contaminated objects, such as sheets or towels.
Around 60 countries in which monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the disease, with 10,400 confirmed cases. The disease occurs mainly in West and Central Africa and only spreads occasionally to other places.
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The World Health Organization announced on Thursday that its emergency committee for monkeypox will meet again on July 21 to discuss outbreak trends and the effectiveness of countermeasures taken against the virus.
2:14 More than half of Canadians are confident in the response to smallpox, but 55% are concerned about the spread: poll More than half of Canadians are confident in the response to smallpox, but 55% are concerned about the spread: survey – June 17, 2022
The committee will also make recommendations on what countries and communities should do to deal with the outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusi said on Tuesday during a briefing in Geneva.
“I don’t think it looks like COVID-19 in terms of pushing the panic button and saying we have a threat to global public health,” Elsayed said.
“We have a public health problem.”
Vaccine deployment is underway in Canada, but should the strategy be changed?
Last month, the National Immunization Advisory Committee (NACI) of Canada recommended that Canadians at high risk of contracting smallpox, not just those who have been infected, be vaccinated.
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Anyone at high risk of exposure to a probable or confirmed case of monkeypox, or who has visited an environment where virus transmission is occurring, should receive a dose of the Imvamune vaccine, NACI said.
The NACI also said vaccines can be offered to those immunocompromised, pregnant or nursing, or children and young people, if they are at increased risk of exposure.
Read more: Ontario monkeypox cases don’t grow fast, vaccine strategy works, says Moore
Imvamune, which is commonly used to treat smallpox, has been approved by Health Canada to treat smallpox.
Ideally, those who have been exposed to the virus should receive the vaccine within four days of exposure, Canada Health Director Dr. Theresa Tam said on June 10.
Quebec has been vaccinating close contacts of confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox since the end of May, inoculating thousands since then.
In Toronto, the city has hosted community clinics that offer the Imvamune vaccine to people at risk. As of July 4, nearly 6,000 people at risk had received a vaccine since June 30.
Meanwhile, Vancouver Coastal Health is opening more smallpox vaccine clinics, increasing access to people 18 and older who are transgender or belong to the LGBTQ2 community and who meet additional high-risk criteria.
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Read more: Public Health Ontario reports first confirmed case of smallpox
So far, officials have said that mass vaccination for the general population is not necessary. The unusual spread of monkeypox has been circulating mainly in men who have sex with men, but the characteristics of the virus do not restrict it to a group, experts say. Ontario on Thursday registered its first case of smallpox in a female.
Those at risk may include those who have close contact with an infected person, whether they are health care workers or family members, Elsayed said.
But with monkeypox spreading around the world, other countries are also vaccinating at-risk groups, putting demand on supply and tightening resources, Vinh said.
“We also need to remember that because there are limited supplies, we first need to focus on the highest risk groups in the same way we did when we had a limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine and we went to the elderly, ”he said. dit.
“What we need to do is use the vaccine wisely.”
1:30 Monkeypox virus “behaves unusually,” says WHO as committee assesses risk Monkeypox virus “behaves unusually,” says WHO when the committee assesses its risk – June 14, 2022
Elsaed agrees.
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“With COVID, we have used a kind of approach to throwing the kitchen sink where we have hit COVID so hard, that we have actually caused damage to our health system by ignoring other components of health. We lack staff. We have cancer diagnoses that are being delayed, ”he said.
“Just target the highest risk groups, which are men who have sex with men, health workers … maybe family members, these would be the people you would vaccinate. I wouldn’t vaccinate the general population at all like we are doing with COVID “.
Aside from vaccination, public health practices such as distancing, hand washing and masking that Canadians learned to manage COVID-19 can also be applied to monkeypox, Elsayed added.
“The most important thing is to provide education to people to say that you should avoid contact with potentially high-risk people or people who may have symptoms compatible with monkeypox,” he said.
“Much has to do with education: you can advise people on what to do, but you can’t control what people do.”
– with archives of Teresa Wright.
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