Quebec now has a total of 141 confirmed cases of monkeypox, the province’s health department said Thursday.
The latest update is a rise of nine from the previous count released earlier this week, when that number stood at 132. The majority of infections are in Montreal, public health authorities have said.
The province has administered 3,936 doses of the smallpox vaccine Imvamune since late May, when it first became available.
READ MORE: Monkeypox: Vaccine recommended for Canadians at high risk of exposure
Monkeypox is a rare disease. It stems from the same family of viruses that causes smallpox, which the World Health Organization declared eradicated around the globe in 1980.
The virus spreads through prolonged intimate contact, but it is not very contagious in a typical social setting. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and lesions.
Quebec recorded the first cases of the monkeypox in Canada last month, with the first suspected infections reported on May 12 in Montreal.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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