Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says monkeypox activity in the province has peaked. Dr Kieran Moore says the province peaked in total active cases in the week of July 15, when about 16 to 18 cases a day were detected through PCR testing, but now that’s down to just about one a day. Moore says most of these new cases are travel-related, particularly from US hot spots, rather than people who are infected in Ontario. He says Ontario has vaccinated 32,175 people against monkeypox and is waiting for the National Advisory Committee on Immunization to provide guidance on whether and how to launch a second-dose strategy. As of this week, there have been 656 confirmed cases of smallpox in Ontario. Monkey pox is spread when people have close, physical contact with an infected person’s lesions, clothing, or bedding, and symptoms can include a rash, swollen lymph nodes, and fever. Ontario’s progress is remarkable, Moore said, and the province has experienced an absolute plateau. “To me, the risk has gone down dramatically in Ontario,” he said in an interview. In its latest report released Wednesday, Public Health Ontario said there were 656 confirmed cases of smallpox in the province as of the previous day, an increase of 25 from the previous week. The agency said 484 of the confirmed cases, or about 74 percent, were in Toronto and all but five were reported in men. The average age of all confirmed cases in the province is about 36, and confirmed cases range in age from under 20 to 74. Public health says 19 people have been hospitalized with the disease in the province and two people are in intensive care. There are also 10 possible cases in Ontario. Local public health units and coalitions across Ontario have organized vaccination clinics in recent months for those the province deems to be at high risk of contracting monkeypox. Moore said he’s very appreciative of the work the Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance has done and for all those at risk who got vaccinated or tested for symptoms. “I think, in an extremely short period of time, we’ve been able to contain the spread of this virus in Ontario,” he said. “I can’t thank everyone involved (enough) as it’s clearly been a success for Ontario.” The province expanded eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine in August to include a broader segment of the LGBTQ population as well as sex workers. Until then, the priority group for the vaccine was gay men, bisexual men and other men who had sex with men who met certain criteria. Some advocates have criticized the strategy for not including people experiencing homelessness, arguing that the population overlaps disproportionately with the LGBTQ community and sex workers. Public Health Ontario said most cases are among men who report close contact with men, but said anyone can get monkeypox. Monkeypox disease comes from the same family of viruses that cause smallpox, which the World Health Organization declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Smallpox vaccines have been shown to be effective in fighting monkeypox. . This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 16, 2022.
