MONTREAL, BALIPOST.com – The first two cases of monkeypox virus infection have been confirmed by the Public Health Agency of Canada after authorities in the province of Quebec announced they were investigating 17 suspected cases.

As quoted by the Antara news agency, on Friday (20/5), a number of countries, including Portugal and Spain, have reported cases of monkeypox in recent weeks, with the US case identified by the Massachusetts public health officials on (18/5) in a man who had recently traveled to the Canadian province of Quebec.

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

He added that Canada had 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 less severe.

Cases were 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 rash starting on the face and spreading all over the body.

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

PHAC said a US citizen who recently traveled to Canada from the United States in private transportation “may have been infected before or during” their visit to Montreal. (Kmb/Balipost)