Countries around the world have reported cases of monkeypox, the symptoms of which are fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph glands, and a rash on the hands and face.
On Thursday evening, Canada recorded the first two cases of monkeypox in humans, as the Canadian Public Health Agency said in a statement, “The Province of Quebec has reported the positive result of the monkeypox examination of two samples received by the National Microbiology Laboratory. These are the first two confirmed cases in Canada.”
Canadian authorities indicated that other suspected cases were being studied in the French-speaking city of Montreal.
And the Regional Department of Public Health in Montreal spoke of 17 suspected cases, according to “AFP”.
The United States also recorded its first case of monkeypox after the Massachusetts Department of Health announced on Wednesday that a young man from Canada had contracted.
After the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal announced on Wednesday that they had recorded confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox.
The local health authorities in the Madrid region also announced on Wednesday evening the discovery of 23 suspected monkeypox infections.
As for Portugal, there are “more than 20 suspected monkeypox cases in the Lisbon region (west), five of which have been confirmed,” according to what the country’s health authorities announced.
On Friday, the Australian authorities said that they had detected a possible case of monkeypox in a traveler who had recently returned from Europe, and that tests were being conducted to confirm it.
The New South Wales Department of Health reported that a man in his 40s fell ill several days after arriving in Sydney with symptoms clinically compatible with monkeypox.
Monkeypox, a rare virus similar to human smallpox, although milder, was first detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1970s, and cases have increased in West Africa in the past decade.
Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, and a rash that begins on the face and spreads to the rest of the body.
People can get monkeypox through close contact with people who have the virus. The infection is usually mild and most people recover within a few weeks.