Second monkeypox case confirmed in Guelph

A second case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Guelph.

Danny Williamson, spokesperson for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, confirmed to the Mercury Tribune that the health unit was notified of the new diagnosis late Aug. 16, with a man aged between 40 and 50 having testing positive.

This marks the fourth monkeypox diagnosis in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health’s jurisdiction, with two cases in Wellington County and one in Guelph.

The health unit has been administering a pre-exposure vaccine against the virus since last month as part of a provincial rollout with a growing number of cases of the disease that, until recently, was typically only seen in parts of Africa. To date, 125 doses have been administered locally, with plans for clinics over the next two weeks and more in September.

Under provincial guidelines, the pre-exposure vaccine is limited to individuals who have sex with men and have either:

• Received a diagnosis of a bacterial sexually transmitted infection, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis, in the past two months;

• Have visited or are planning to visit a bath house or sex club, or work/volunteer in these settings;

• Have had anonymous sex or are planning to;

• Engaged in sex work or are planning to, or is a sexual partner of a sex worker

• Have had two or more sexual partners in the past 21 days, or planning to.

Related to the smallpox virus, the monkeypox virus presents with symptoms similar to its relative, but less severe. Symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue and a rash or lesions that may appear on the face or genitals before spreading to other areas.

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has previously said most people who contract monkeypox will recover on their own without treatment, and close contacts of a positive case can be effectively treated with a post-exposure vaccine.

According to the latest update from the Public Health Agency of Canada, there have been 1,059 cases of monkeypox reported in six Canadian provinces as of Aug. 12. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 38,019 confirmed cases worldwide as of Aug. 16, 37,632 of which are in locations that have not historically reported monkeypox cases.

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