Toronto confirms 2nd case of monkeypox, 7 cases still under investigation

Toronto Public Health (TPH) confirmed a second positive case of monkeypox in the city on Tuesday, less than a week after reporting its first case.

In an update on Wednesday afternoon, health officials said seven cases are being investigated for the virus and 10 cases under investigation have been deemed negative. Previously there were six under investigation and nine negative cases.

Last Thursday, TPH confirmed its first case of monkeypox and said that individual has been recovering in hospital. Health officials have not provided further details on the second case.

TPH has said the six individuals under investigation are currently recovering at home while laboratory testing is done to confirm if they have the virus.

A probable case is defined as a person with signs and symptoms of the virus including a rash and contact with a confirmed or probable case, travelled to a region where a confirmed case has been detected or been exposed to an infected animal. Individuals lacking an epidemiological link but with the required signs and symptoms including the rash are classified as suspected cases.

Monkeypox is a rare disease that comes from the same family of viruses that causes smallpox, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared eradicated around the globe in 1980.

It is typically milder than smallpox and can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and lesions all over the body.

Monkeypox typically spreads from close person-to-person contact through respiratory droplets, direct contact with skin lesions or bodily fluids, or indirect contact through contaminated clothing or linens.

TPH said the virus does not spread easily between people and is not as transmissible as COVID-19. It is slow to spread and seems to require more prolonged contact, or skin-to-skin contact.

“It’s not a disease that is easily spread as COVID, it usually requires prolonged face-to-face contact. In addition its important that if you have lesions, you keep them covered up and stay isolated. If you are in close contact with someone who has lesions, that can put you at risk,” Dr. Rita Shahin, Toronto’s associate medical officer of health, said last week.

Health officials have said the risk posed to the general public by monkeypox is low.

Earlier this week, Dr. Rosamund Lewis, a top monkeypox expert with WHO, said she doesn’t expect a pandemic, but warned that anyone is at potential risk of getting the disease.

Dr. Lewis said there are still many unknowns about the virus, including how it’s spreading and whether the suspension of widespread smallpox immunization decades ago may somehow be speeding up its transmission now.

So far, the WHO said the virus has been reported by 23 Member States “that are not endemic for monkeypox.”

____

With files from John Marchesan, Hana Mae Nassar and Martin MacMahon of CityNews, and The Canadian Press