Saskatchewan alerts public about elevated risk of Monkeypox

Health officials are raising concerns about Monkeypox in Saskatchewan after new information related to recent cases.

“The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is alerting the public to the elevated risk of acquiring Monkeypox through anonymous sexual contact due to recent known cases associated with this source of transmission,” said a release issued on Saturday.

“Information reported to public health, related to travel into and out of province, has prompted this alert.”

Dr. Saqib Shahab, chief medical health officer for the province of Saskatchewan, spoke about the recent surge in Monkeypox cases throughout Canada on Saturday morning and the concern surrounding cases in Saskatchewan.

“We thought it was really important to get some information out to the public,” Shahab said.

“We’ve been following the global Monkeypox outbreak very closely for five months now. So far, we’ve had three cases who were exposed outside of the province.”

The SHA says individuals who believe they have been exposed can contact Healthline 811 to determine if they are considered at risk or eligible for a vaccine.

Eligibility for the Monkeypox vaccine has been expanded to adults 18 years and older who are close contacts or deemed a higher risk for exposure.

Shahab says there are reasons to believe that Monkeypox cases could increase here in Saskatchewan.

“We think the situation has changed here now the last week where we have had evidence of exposures happening in Saskatchewan. In many cases, through anonymous sexual contact,” Shahab said.

“We think there’s a high risk that we may see ongoing transmission within Saskatchewan.”

The disease causes fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes and lethargy, followed by the development of a rash over a person’s body. Monkeypox does not spread easily from person to person. It is spread through:

• Close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact;
• touching bodily fluids or lesions of a person who is sick with the disease; or
• exposure to contaminated objects such as bed linens or clothing.

The Ministry of Health and SHA have increased surveillance for Monkeypox and have alerted health care providers across the province.

The province is also continuing to work with the Public Health Agency of Canada and National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg to investigate any further potential cases in Saskatchewan.