'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
As cases of monkeypox spread across the world, with the medical community still grappling with the cause of the spike, it may raise alarms for some and trigger memories of the early days of COVID-19.
But health experts say that monkeypox isn’t likely to have a similar impact to the coronavirus and cause a worldwide pandemic, mainly because it isn’t a new virus and doesn’t spread the same way as COVID-19.
So far there have been 26 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Canada, 25 in Quebec and one case in Ontario.
Outbreaks of the virus have also been found in countries in Europe and Australia, along with the U.S. The Czech Republic and Slovenia recently reported their first cases, now making 18 countries to detect the virus outside of Western and Central Africa.
“As surveillance expands, we do expect that more cases will be seen. But, we need to put this into context because it’s not COVID,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead on COVID-19, in a live online Q&A on Monday.
CTVNews.ca breaks down the origins of the monkeypox virus and how its significance will likely differ from COVID-19:
Monkeypox was discovered in 1958; it is a rare disease caused by a virus that belongs to the same family as the one that causes smallpox.
The disease was initially discovered in monkey colonies used for research. The first human case was not discovered until 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two years after smallpox had been eliminated in the region.
Monkeypox is "not easily spread between humans" but can be transmitted through large respiratory droplets or direct contact with skin lesions, bodily fluids or contaminated materials like clothing, family physician Dr. Rhonda Low told CTV Morning Live on Wednesday.
Large respiratory droplets generally do not travel far, and require extended close contact to transmit the disease.
COVID-19 spreads much more easily. It doesn’t require skin-to-skin contact to spread and can transmit at a “conventional distance,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The virus can spread during conversations with an infected person and if an infected person shares a room with you. The virus spread fastest in poorly ventilated rooms.
A distinguishing symptom of monkeypox is a rash that usually begins on the face and then spreads to a person's limbs or other parts of the body.
"It seems that people are only infectious when they have those skin lesions," Low said. "The risk to the general public is low, but we want to know if it exists."
Experts believe the current monkeypox outbreak is being spread through close, intimate skin-on-skin contact with someone who has an active rash. That should make its spread easier to contain once infections are identified, experts said.
"It's not a situation where if you're passing someone in the grocery store, they're going to be at risk for monkeypox," said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a briefing on Monday.
The Orthopox family of viruses includes monkeypox and smallpox. Smallpox, which used to kill millions of people every year, was eliminated in 1980 thanks to a successful global vaccination effort. Routine smallpox immunization for the general population ended in Canada and the United States in 1972.
The smallpox vaccine can still be used to protect against monkeypox and has a greater than 85 per cent efficacy, according to WHO.
There is also a newer vaccine that was approved for the monkeypox in 2019, but the availability is limited. The WHO also notes that an antiviral agent known as tecovirimat developed for smallpox was licensed for monkeypox in 2022 by the European Medical Association, but is not yet widely available.
Antiviral drugs for smallpox could also be used to treat monkeypox under certain circumstances, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
In Canada, PHAC says it has given Quebec a small shipment of the smallpox vaccine Imvamune from Canada's National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, with other jurisdictions able to receive some supply.
In April, Public Services and Procurement Canada submitted a tender to purchase 500,000 doses of the Imvamune vaccine between 2023 and 2028.
PHAC also says that there is currently no need for mass immunizations for monkeypox.
COVID-19 is now considered one of the most contagious viruses in the world; a major reason why it spread as quickly as did.
Medical researchers measure the contagiousness of a virus by determining its basic reproduction number, or R0. This number measures how many people are likely to be infected by one sick person.
An R0 of 1 means the average carrier can be expected to infect one other person. An R0 below 1 means the virus will die out on its own and a higher number increases the possibility of outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics.
For COVID-19’s original version in 2020, the number was between 2 and 3. That number is likely more than double for the omicron variant, recent studies show.
While the Monkeypox’s R0 has not yet been determined, it is thought to be far less than that of COVID, according to WHO.
Previously, the longest documented chain of Monkeypox infection was four generations of person-to-person transmission, Health Canada notes, suggesting that it has “limited potential for epidemic spread.”
Monkeypox is also less deadly than COVID. While there is a more serious strain of the virus, Low said most cases being reported are mild infections.
"It goes away by itself in two to four weeks without any treatment," she said.
In Africa, one to 10 per cent of those infected with monkeypox die. Death rates have been higher among children.
The WHO says that the case fatality ratio in recent times has been around three to six per cent, but the suspected cases in Montreal and other overseas cases appear be milder.
With files from Solarina Ho and Associated Press
CTVNews.ca wants to hear from Canadians with any questions.
Tell us what you'd like to know when it comes to monkeypox.
To submit your question, email us at dotcom@bellmedia.ca with your name, location and question. Your comments may be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
The Edmonton Oilers will start Calvin Pickard in net Tuesday for Game 4 of their playoff series with the Vancouver Canucks.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker railed against Pride month, working women, President Biden's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and abortion during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend.
King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
The province has released more information on its plan to break up Alberta Health Services and replace it with four sector-based health agencies.
The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than US$1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, two congressional aides said Tuesday.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.