Health authorities in Montreal (Canada) have identified 17 probable cases of monkeypox and have started an investigation to understand the chain of transmission of the disease, which has also been detected in several European countries and the United States.
Montreal’s director of public health, Dr. Mylène Drouin, said Thursday at a press conference that precisely the detection in the United States of the case of a person who contracted the disease after traveling to the Canadian city alerted Canadian authorities to the situation.
He also explained that the cases have not yet been confirmed by laboratory tests, but specialists consider that there is a high possibility that they are positive for monkeypox.
The first cases in Montreal were reported by clinics specializing in sexually transmitted diseases. Drouin stressed that no infection is serious.
Transmission of monkeypox occurs through close contact and through droplets containing the disease virus.
Monkeypox is caused by a virus endemic to central and western Africa. In recent days, cases have been detected in the UK, Portugal and Spain.
On Wednesday, US authorities detected the first case in a man residing in the state of Massachusetts, in the northeast of the country, and who had recently traveled to Montreal.
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