There is little reason for most people to worry about contracting monkeypox, Dr. Nicola Mercer told the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health board on Wednesday afternoon, drawing comparisons to the pandemic.
“We are not looking at a pandemic with monkeypox,” the chief medical officer of health said. “This is a very different virus.”
The existence of monkeypox has been known for several decades, with vaccines and treatments already approved by Health Canada and available to local residents if and when needed, Mercer said.
Monkeypox is perhaps most recognized for blisters, lesions and rashes on the body, most commonly the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, as explained by the World Health Organization.
Other symptoms include fever, intense headache, swelling of the lymph nodes, back pain, muscle aches and “intense” lack of energy.
It’s usually a self-limited disease, with symptoms lasting two to four weeks, the agency notes, adding, “in recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around three to six per cent.”
Considered a “cousin” to smallpox, Mercer explained there has been a significant amount of research and testing done in relation to monkeypox, unlike when COVID-19 first appeared in late 2019.
There have been several reported cases in Canada during the past month, including two in Toronto this week.
There are no reported cases throughout Wellington Dufferin Guelph, Mercer told the board, adding “we’re all on alert and we’re looking.”
If a local case is discovered, she said only people who had direct contact with the patient’s lesions need to be treated in an effort to “control the spread.”
“It’s not really as transmittable,” Mercer said, once again comparing monkeypox to COVID-19.
“This is not the first outbreak of monkeypox and it certainly won’t be the last.”
