Nova Scotia confirms 1st case of monkeypox in a resident

Nova Scotia is reporting its first confirmed case of monkeypox in a resident.

The Health Department said in a news release Tuesday the person caught the viral disease while travelling outside the province and developed symptoms once they returned. Public Health said it identified only one low-risk contact.

"The general public is at very low risk for this," Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, told CBC News.

Monkeypox is spread through close, intimate person-to-person contact, the province said in the release. It said most cases have been reported among men who identify as gay or bisexual, or men who have sex with men.

There are 160 doses of the vaccine for monkeypox in Nova Scotia. The province said it is saving those doses for people who are most at risk of infection, like people who are considered a close contact of someone who is a confirmed case.

The province is working with the federal government to increase the supply of Imvamune, the vaccine for monkeypox. It also said it's working closely with groups like Sexual Health Nova Scotia, prideHeath and the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia to establish a "pre-exposure vaccination program targeted to high-risk groups."

Strang said an immunization program should be ready "probably within the next couple of weeks."

Shane Pope, the health and wellness coordinator for 2SGBQ+ men at the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia, said the province's gay community has overwhelmingly faced stigma connected to monkeypox.

"Currently, the monkeypox virus is overwhelmingly affecting gay, bisexual men [and] men who have sex with men. And so that has led a lot of folks to believe that only that population of people can get it, that they shouldn't be doing this or they shouldn't have had sex," Pope said.

"But monkeypox can affect anyone, and it has across the country. And so that has built a lot of stigma around monkeypox and a lot of folks just don't believe that they can get it."

Monkeypox is spread through close contact with someone who has monkeypox, including sexual activity, direct contact with monkeypox sores (including scabs), inhaling respiratory droplets from coughs or sneezes from an infected person and contact with contaminated items like bedding or clothing.

"This does not spread like influenza or COVID ... this is spread in a very different way through very specific circumstances," Strang said.

Symptoms usually develop five to 21 days after an exposure. Those symptoms include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, back pain and exhaustion. Rash and sores are also symptoms that usually start on the face, legs or arms and can affect other parts of the body.