For the second time this month and ever, Waterloo Public Health is reporting a case of monkeypox in the area.
A spokesperson for the agency confirmed the news to Global News but provided no further details about the incident.
They did say that Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu Li Wang would be providing an update about the case as well as the current state of COVID-19 in the area during Wednesday’s Board of Health update.
Waterloo Public Health reported the first case of monkeypox in the area on Aug. 5. In that case, a man in his 30s had contracted the virus.
Waterloo Public Health says that the virus is “spread through close contact with body fluids, respiratory droplets, or lesions of an infected person or animal, or through contaminated materials such as clothing and bedding.”
It says that a pox-like rash will appear after a person shows flu-like symptoms like a fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes and/or tiredness.
Most people who are infected with monkeypox could recover on their own after a few weeks, but in some circumstances, people can become very sick and die, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s website.
Infected individuals usually develop symptoms five to 21 days after being exposed to the monkeypox virus, which includes a painful rash that could last between 14 and 28 days.
WPH says that the risk to the public is low since the virus down not spread easily but people can further mitigate the risk by practising proper hygiene and safe sex while also avoiding contact with those who are ill.
— with files from Global News’ Heidi Lee