Quebec had 15 officially confirmed cases of monkeypox as of Monday, it is indicated on the website of the Ministry of Health devoted to this disease.
This is a significant increase from the five confirmed cases in La Belle Province last Friday.
This jump is hardly surprising, however, considering that up to twenty cases were under investigation at the start of the weekend. In particular, the Regional Public Health Department (DRSP) in Montreal mentioned last Thursday that 17 patients were being analyzed in the metropolitan area, including 15 on the island.
The majority of people affected are men from the homosexual community, aged between 30 and 55, the Montreal DRSP pointed out last week.
Faced with the proliferation of the disease, the federal government had raised the idea of sending vaccines to Quebec. It should be noted that in the United States, the health authorities have already raised the idea of a vaccination campaign for contact cases of people infected with this sexually transmitted disease at the beginning of the week.
Monkeypox manifests itself through skin lesions on the skin, mainly in the mouth and genitals, but not only. These can be accompanied by fever, night sweats, headache, joint or muscle pain and lead to swollen glands, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Elsewhere in Canada, a few cases have also been reported in British Columbia.
Recall that monkey or simian pox was first observed in humans in the Republic of Congo in 1970, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).