It's HERE!!! Public Health confirms first local case of MONKEYPOX

Region of Waterloo Public Health confirms first local case of MONKEYPOX

Waterloo Region – Region of Waterloo Public Health is confirming the first local case of the monkeypox virus in a male in his 30s.

Monkeypox is a rare viral illness that is spread through close contact with body fluids, respiratory droplets, or lesions of an infected person or animal, or through contaminated materials such as clothing and bedding. A pox-like rash typically follows one or more days of flu-like symptoms (fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes and tiredness). Most people have symptoms for two to four weeks and recover without treatment.

Anyone who has symptoms of monkeypox should self-isolate, wear a mask and seek medical attention. Region of Waterloo Public Health continues to work closely with local physicians to provide information about testing, diagnosis, treatment, and reporting confirmed and suspected cases.

Close contacts of suspect or confirmed cases should self-monitor for symptoms for 21 days from last exposure. Region of Waterloo Public Health will be offering Imvamune vaccine to those at high risk of infection. Details will be available on our website in the coming days.

The risk to the general public is low since monkeypox does not spread easily from person to person. The best way to protect yourself against monkeypox is to avoid close contact with persons who are unwell, practise proper hand and respiratory hygiene, and practice safe sex.

W.H.O. Declares Monkeypox Spread a Global Health Emergency

There have been more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries, overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men.

For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the extraordinary step of declaring a global emergency. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director general, on Saturday overruled a panel of advisers, who could not come to a consensus, and declared a “public health emergency of international concern,” a designation the W.H.O. currently uses to describe only two other diseases, Covid-19 and polio.

“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria” for a public health emergency, Dr. Tedros told reporters. It was apparently the first time that the director general had sidestepped his advisers to declare an emergency.

Some global health experts have criticized the W.H.O.’s criteria for declaring such emergencies as opaque and inconsistent.