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Monkeypox: Emergency declaration not needed, Tam says Canada has not needed to declare an emergency over the monkeypox virus the same way the United States and the World Health Organization have because mechanisms are already in place to tackle the outbreak, the country's top doctor said Friday. Dr. Theresa Tam’s comments came one week after the U.S. declared a public health emergency in response to the monkeypox outbreak, which followed the WHO declaring monkeypox a global health emergency last month. Tam explained that the U.S. has a different process for triggering resources and funding needed for a country-wide response to a viral outbreak, which is why an emergency declaration isn’t necessary at this point in Canada. Canada is already doing all the things the U.S. is now doing, such as mobilizing vaccines and medications, and provinces and local health authorities have the flexibility they need to respond, she said. Tam added that there are some "early signs" cases may be slowing down in the country, but it's "a little too soon to tell." For more details, read Saba Aziz’s story here. 
A new Langya virus has been detected in China. Should Canadians be concerned? As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic and a concerning monkeypox outbreak, a new zoonotic virus likely transmitted to humans from animals has caught the attention of scientists. In China, between December 2018 and August 2021, 35 people were infected with the Langya virus that is believed to have spread from shrews — small mole-like mammals — according to researchers. The findings published in the New England Journal of Medical last week did not suggest human-to-human transmission, but the sample size was too small to determine if the virus can be spread from close contact between people, the study authors said. Symptoms included fever, fatigue, cough, nausea, headache and vomiting. More severe cases had impaired liver and kidney function. Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, said scientists should closely monitor Langya, which he says has never been detected in humans before, as there is not enough information about how it spreads and behaves. "The medical and scientific community need to be vigilant and on guard for developing tests to make sure that we know how extensively distributed this virus is," he said. For more details about the Langya virus and what we know about it so far, read this story on our Global News site. 
Q: I'm planning a trip in September. How worried should I be about monkeypox, as I'll be staying in motels? Should I be concerned about bedsheets and should I wipe everything down with disinfecting wipes in my room? Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has indeed been a heightened awareness about how diseases can spread and how vigorously we should be cleaning and disinfecting to ensure we keep ourselves healthy. But that does not mean those who are concerned about newly-spreading viruses like monkeypox should be overly concerned about this kind of transmission, says Dr. Joseph Blondeau, a clinical microbiologist and head of clinical microbiology at Royal University Hospital and the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. “The reality with monkeypox is that this is a virus which is transmitted by close contact,” he said. It is possible to contract monkeypox through household contacts and even through infected bed linens and clothing. But to date, only health-care workers who have been treating patients with symptoms so serious they require hospitalization have contracted the virus this way, says Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist and medical microbiologist at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. These patients would not be travelling or staying in hotels, he noted. Blondeau says he recently travelled and stayed in a hotel and did not feel the need to personally disinfect surfaces or fear bed linens in his room. Others shouldn’t feel concerned either, he said. “Provided the hotel is doing what it’s supposed to do in order to clean after individuals leave that room, I suspect that that’s probably enough.” | 
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