you might have seen some posts on your feed claiming that MX previously known as monkey pox is the next pandemic not so fast we spoke to infectious disease specialists and the likelihood of this being a pandemic level spread is extremely unlikely this isn't Co this is not something that's going to rapidly rip through the world but it is a global Public Health Emergency which is considered by The Who as a serious sudden or unusual condition so what's the risk to you the infectious disease doctors we spoke to told us that empo in Canada has been mainly spread through sexual contact this wouldn't be something like walking past someone on the subway this is a sustained direct personal contact is responsible for the vast majority of cases that have been seen so far cases in Canada are climbing again this summer but there have been way fewer infections here than in the 2022 Outbreak The Doctors also say the virus has mainly affected men who have sex with men especially those with multiple partners and sex workers you're at the greatest risk of exposure if you're in contact with the bodily fluids or lesions of someone with empo those lesions are the main sign of EMP PX along with flu like symptoms the symptoms can be painful but tend to last 2 to 3 weeks and so far there's been no deaths reported in Canada but now a different picture is emerging Congo is experiencing its largest outbreak of empo yet with children making up many of the cases and deaths the outbreak is linked to a form of the virus known as Cade 1 that's thought to be more severe and a new lineage known as Cade 1B is spilling from Congo into other African countries scientists are racing to figure out how deadly and transmissible it might be compared to Clay 2 the milder form that went GL Global back in 2022 according to the public health agency of Canada Cade 2 is what's circulating here but Cade 1 could spread even further the good news is that there's a vaccine here something that doctors are calling for Canada to share with African countries where officials say they need 10 million doses in Canada the two- dose vaccine isn't being given to the general public instead it's going to high-risk groups like men who have sex with men but you can check your local public health unit for more information and the who announced this week that it's launched a six-month plan to combat the outbreak and increase vaccine access to countries most affected