Federal Public Health plans to offer vaccines against monkeypox infections in Quebec, where the first five cases were detected Thursday. A few dozen potential cases are currently under investigation in Canada. Contacts are also being investigated in British Columbia.
Updated yesterday at 7:53 p.m.
“For the moment, we have a few doses and we are always ready. We are discussing with the province of Quebec for a possibility of use, “said the Deputy Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Dr.r Howard Njoo, without advancing on precise quantities.
Smallpox is a disease that has been eradicated since 1980 in the world, added Dr.r Njoo. “But even if the disease is eradicated, there may still be strains in the laboratories. And you always have to be ready for a biological event with smallpox. This is why several countries, including Canada, have a certain amount of vaccine against smallpox,” he said, assuring in passing that this vaccine will be “effective against monkeypox”.
There is no cure for monkeypox, but the viral infection is self-limiting. Symptoms usually disappear on their own within 14 to 21 days. The smallpox vaccine, given to Canadians until 1971, is more than 85% effective against the monkeypox virus, according to Government of Canada data. Those infected, mainly men between the ages of 30 and 55, present with genital and oral ulcerations, as well as painful lymph nodes.
“A few dozen” cases under investigation
Beside her is the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, Dr.D Theresa Tam, said that “a few dozen” people are currently “under investigation” in connection with monkeypox in the country. She maintains that these people are “mostly in Quebec”, but that some contacts are also closely followed in British Columbia.
“We can expect to see more cases in the coming days,” also hinted at the DD Tam in English, also specifying that it is at the very least “unusual” to see “so many cases” of smallpox in “different countries”.
Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) confirmed the first two cases of monkey pox, also called monkey pox, in Quebec. These are the first two infections in the country. About twenty others are the subject of an investigation at the ministry. During the evening, three new cases were added, bringing the total to five.
By email, the MSSS said Friday that it was “in action on issues of availability or orders of smallpox vaccines” with the federal government. “There were exchanges between the MSSS and the PHAC in order to clarify important elements such as the preferred vaccine, the indications and recommendations for this vaccine, the contraindications, who can use this vaccine and under what conditions. form of consent. These discussions are essential prerequisites to allow us to go further in supply issues,” says spokesperson Marjorie Larouche.
Before distributing vaccines against smallpox, however, it will be necessary to “study well what the indications are”, warned the Dr Njoo, calling for determining “how to use them to be more effective against this disease”. In the meantime, Public Health will continue its supply efforts to “have more vaccines,” he promised.
“Canadian samples are currently being sent to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg for diagnostic and verification purposes. That said, we would like to be able to expand our diagnostic capabilities in our other laboratories,” said Dr.D Tam.
Since the beginning of May, nine cases of monkeypox have been identified in the UK. Spain and Portugal also announced on Wednesday that they had recorded more than 40 possible or confirmed cases. On Thursday, Italy and Sweden, in turn, announced their first confirmed case of monkeypox.
Update on COVID-19
COVID-19 continues to decline in Canada, but hospitalizations related to the disease “remain high” in the country, estimates the Canadian Public Health Agency. “There is always some uncertainty in the trajectory of COVID and the variants. We also still have a lot to learn about the long COVID, ”said its chief administrator, DD Theresa Tam. She also called on Canadians “to be careful” as the long weekend approaches. “Masking continues to be an important protective measure for ourselves and for the people we love, especially those who are vulnerable,” she said. She offered her condolences to the more than 40,000 Canadians who died after contracting the virus, a sad symbolic threshold that has been reached in the last few days.
With Alice Girard-Bossé, The Press