Health authorities in Montreal are examining more than a dozen suspected cases of monkeypox, Radio-Canada reported on Wednesday, while the United States has confirmed a case from Canada.
This uncommon disease usually manifests with fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and rashes on the hands and face, like chickenpox.
“Montreal public health confirms that several cases of monkey pox are being studied in the metropolis”, indicates Radio-Canada, specifying that “at least 13 cases” are being examined in the French-speaking city.
Doctors reported the suspected cases following diagnoses made by three clinics specializing in sexually transmitted infections, according to the same source.
On the other side of the border, health authorities in the US state of Massachusetts have confirmed a case of this disease, the first of the year in the United States, detected in an adult who recently traveled to Canada.
“The case poses no risk to the public, and the person is hospitalized and well,” Massachusetts authorities, who are working with the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the main body, said in a statement. federal health agency of the country.
The CDC, which says it monitors newly detected cases of the disease in Europe, stressed that “anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can spread monkeypox”.
Several of these European cases have thus been detected within the homosexual community.
Since May 6, seven cases of monkeypox have been identified in the UK, including four in people identifying as “gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men”, according to the agency. British Health Safety.
Spain and Portugal also announced earlier on Wednesday that they had more than 40 suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox.