NewsDesk @bactiman63

On Monday, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced that there has been a total of 8 adult cases have now been identified in Alberta, all in the Edmonton & Calgary zones.

Image/Jean Gagnon

Contact tracing and investigation is underway. The overall risk in the province remains low.

Dr. Hinshaw notes that smallpox vaccine is available in Alberta for close contacts. To date, 8 close contacts have received vaccine.

To date, Canada has reported 300 total confirmed monkeypox cases–Quebec (211), Ontario (77) and British Columbia (4) account for the rest of the cases.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is working with provinces, territories and international partners, including the World Health Organization, to actively monitor the situation. Global efforts are focused on containment of the outbreak and the prevention of further spread.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer of Canada is in close contact with provincial and territorial Chief Medical Officers of Health to ensure that any cases of monkeypox occurring in Canada continue to be rapidly identified and managed in order to protect the health of Canadians.

Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory is performing diagnostic testing for the virus that causes monkeypox. In addition, the laboratory is also conducting whole genome sequencing, an enhanced fingerprint analysis, on Canadian samples of monkeypox. This sequencing will help our experts understand the chains of transmission occurring in Canada. The laboratory is working in close collaboration with provincial and territorial public health laboratories to provide testing guidance and to increase testing capacity for monkeypox.