A month almost to the day after the Ministry of Health and Social Services officially announced the end of the outbreak of monkeypox in Quebec, two new cases have appeared in Montreal, reports Public Health.
In an update of its “call for vigilance”, the regional direction of Public Health of Montreal (DRSP) reveals that “after several months without reporting new cases” in the metropolis, two laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported. since March 17.
The health authorities are therefore launching a new call for vaccination among the population groups most at risk. According to Public Health data, the vaccination coverage of at-risk clients is estimated at 54% for a first dose and 24% for a second dose.
“Our vaccination coverage could really be improved. It would allow us to be better protected and prevent the risk of local transmission, ”explains Dr. Geneviève Bergeron, medical chief of the infectious disease prevention and control sector at the DRSP.
This infectious disease disproportionately affects men who have sex with other men. The two recently reported cases are believed to be linked to men who traveled to countries where local transmission is well documented.
Dr. Bergeron recalls that each case of infection acquired abroad “can lead to local transmission”.
In this regard, if the epidemic was considered to be over in Montreal and Quebec, the World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that it is a “public health emergency of international concern”.
According to information provided by Public Health, the two recently infected people had received at least one dose of the Imvamune preventive vaccine, which reduces the risk of contracting the disease and developing serious complications.
“There is no vaccine that is 100% effective, but we know that the vaccine is effective. Among people who have received the vaccine, we see presentations that are less severe. Fewer lesions, fewer complications,” says Dr. Bergeron.
The virus is transmitted by direct contact of the skin or mucous membranes with the lesions of an infected person or their biological fluids. It can also be transmitted by respiratory droplets during prolonged close contact.
The main symptoms are first fever, headache, fatigue, chills, body aches and inflammation of the glands. Thereafter, one sees the appearance of rashes on the face and elsewhere on the body. These rashes can be very painful, we warn.
More than 500 cases
Between May and October 2022, 400 probable and confirmed cases of monkeypox were diagnosed in Montreal. Across Quebec, the Ministry of Health and Social Services has counted 526 probable or confirmed cases in connection with this outbreak.
The last appearances of monkeypox in Montreal dated back to the fall of 2022. A vaccination campaign quickly deployed by Montreal Public Health last summer slowed its spread.
Anyone wishing to obtain the vaccine is invited to consult the Clic Santé platform to make an appointment.
Public Health calls on health professionals to be vigilant in order to identify other cases and promote the preventive vaccine to the target public.