JawaPos.com– The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed on Thursday (5/19) the first two cases of monkeypox virus infection in the country. Authorities in the province of Quebec said they were investigating 17 suspected cases.

A number of countries, including Portugal and Spain, have reported cases of monkeypox in recent weeks. A case in the United States identified by public health officials in Massachusetts on May 18 in a man who had recently traveled to the Canadian province of Quebec.

“The province of Quebec has received information that two samples received by the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) tested positive for monkeypox. These are the first two confirmed cases in Canada,” the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said in a statement. Between.

PHAC added that Canada has never seen a case of monkeypox. Monkeypox, which occurs mainly in West and Central Africa, is a rare viral infection similar to human smallpox, although milder.

The case was first reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1970s. The number of cases in West Africa has increased over the past decade. Symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash starting on the face and spreading throughout the body.

Health authorities in Montreal, Quebec’s largest city, told reporters on Thursday there was a link between the US case of monkeypox in Massachusetts and a number of suspected cases in the Montreal area.

PHAC said American citizens who recently traveled to Canada from the United States by private transportation may have been infected before or during their visit to Montreal.

Publisher: Latu Ratri Mubyarsah

Reporter: Antara