Quebec Health Officials Confirm 10 More Cases of Monkeypox for a Total of 15

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days. Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP

Quebec health officials are reporting 10 more cases of monkeypox, for a total of 15 confirmed cases across the province.

Last week, the province reported the first cases of the virus in Canada.

Health Department spokesman Robert Maranda says Quebec is considering ordering vaccines against the disease from the federal government.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said last week it was investigating about two dozen possible cases of monkeypox in the country in addition to the confirmed cases in Quebec.

Toronto Public Health said over the weekend it was investigating Ontario’s first suspected case.

Monkeypox is a rare disease that comes from the same family of viruses that causes smallpox, which the World Health Organization declared eradicated around the globe in 1980. It spreads through prolonged closed contact and can cause fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, swollen lymph nodes and lesions.