ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP
A first case of the new Mpox variant detected in France, announced the Ministry of Health on January 6, 2025
HEALTH – It was only a matter of time. After Sweden, Germany and Belgium, a first case of the new mpox variant was identified in France, the Ministry of Health said this Monday evening, January 6, in a press release, confirming information from the regional daily West France.
“The Ministry of Labor and Health” was informed “ of a first human case of clade 1b mpox on national territory, in Brittany. Recommended management measures have been implemented”details the press release, addressed to AFP. West France specifies that the sick person is a woman diagnosed in Rennes. She “ would be doing well”says the daily without citing a source.
“The reported case concerns a person who has not traveled to Central Africa, an area in which the different clades of mpox viruses have been actively circulating for several months, including clade 1b”specifies the press release. “This person was, however, in contact with two people returning from Central Africa, investigations are underway to find the origin of the contamination and identify all the contact persons”he adds.
A more virulent strain
Mpox, formerly called “monkey pox” or “monkeypox” in English, is experiencing an expected progression of the epidemic, which has prompted the WHO to sound the alarm. The French health system itself passed last August “ in a state of maximum alertness”.
The new strain of the virus, more virulent and more deadly than that causing the 2022 epidemic, is spreading in a worrying manner and is no longer limited to the African continent alone, where it was first detected. It has thus been detected in Asia and Europe since this summer, in Sweden, Thailand, Belgium, Germany and even the United Kingdom.
The virus is transmitted in several ways, making its spread even more worrying: in the event of prolonged contact via respiratory droplets, by direct contact with an infected person or animal (wounds, blood, semen, mucous membranes, etc.) or by indirectly via contaminated objects.
The risk of infection by Monkeypox clade I for the general population in France and Europe is considered low by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), notes the ministry press release. “But sporadic cases, linked to countries with more intense viral circulation, can occur. The occurrence of this case in France was quickly detected thanks to the surveillance system in place”.
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