Two cases of the monkeypox infections were confirmed in Canada on Thursday, as chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says "just under a couple of dozen" potential cases are being investigated..Tam said the cases are almost all in Quebec. She announced earlier on Friday that a couple of suspected cases were being followed up in BC, however, those two cases have now been discounted..It was determined they were not considered contacts of known cases and had not been exposed.."No suspected cases or contacts of monkeypox are under investigation in BC at this time," the BCCDC said in a statement..“We understand from other countries that are reporting cases the current monkeypox strain ... is the West African [strain]. We have not yet confirmed that in Canada,” Tam said..Tam said samples of the two cases now confirmed in Canada are being processed at the national microbiology lab on Friday..She said we could see more confirmations in the coming hours and days..The federal public health agency still doesn't know how widespread the outbreak could become..On Thursday, Montreal public health officials announced they were investigating 17 possible cases and said there was no need to be alarmed..“We do not have to panic. It's not something you can acquire in a grocery store or on public transportation,” Montreal's director of public health, Dr. Mylène Drouin, said during a media conference..UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed another 11 cases there today. This takes the total number of infected Brits to 20. No details about the new UK patients have been released yet..Twelve countries — including the US, Spain, Portugal, and Italy — have now detected monkeypox in the first global outbreak of its kind..Experts at the WHO convened an emergency meeting to discuss the unusually high rates among gay and bisexual men, it was claimed Friday..The WHO hosted daily meetings with experts from affected countries since the monkeypox outbreak began. Meetings are taking place at its regional offices, as well as the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..The WHO's Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Endemic Potential (STAG IH) also met Friday..Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO's executive director of health emergencies, is set to be in at the gathering of experts, the UK's Telegraph claimed..One UKHSA disease expert speculated WHO health chiefs could consider escalating the situation to a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)..Spain reported another 14 cases Friday. This brings the country’s total count to 21. Belgium detected two cases, one in Antwerp and the other in Flemish Brabant..Germany has now confirmed its first ever monkeypox case in a patient that had “characteristic skin lesions.”.France, meanwhile confirmed late Thursday that a 29-year-old man in Paris had picked the virus. He had not recently travelled, suggesting the virus is spreading in the community..Thursday night, Australia confirmed two cases, including one man who travelled from the UK to Melbourne with symptoms earlier this week..Friday, Portuguese researchers published a draft genome monkeypox viral sequence..Monkeypox can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and lesions and is typically milder than its smallpox cousin..It can be passed between people, however, health officials insist human-to-human transmission is very rare.
