Mpox: a first case of the new variant identified in France, announces the Ministry of Health

A first case of the new Mpox variant has been identified in France, the Ministry of Health said Monday evening, confirming information from the regional daily Ouest France.

The ministry was informed of “a first human case of Mpox clade 1b on the national territory, in Brittany. The recommended management measures have been put in place”, details the press release. And to add that “Recommended management measures have been implemented.”

“The reported case concerns a person who has not traveled to Central Africa, an area in which the different clades of Mpox virus have been actively circulating for several months, including clade 1b,” specifies the Ministry of Health. “This person, however, was in contact with two people returning from central Africa“, investigations are underway to find the origin of the contamination and identify all contact persons,” he adds.

WHO highest alert level

Mpox, previously called “monkey pox”, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is transmitted between humans through close contact, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.

By 2022, the global epidemic, carried by clade 2, had spread to around a hundred countries where the disease was not endemic. Since then, it has been in clear decline since at “1^is January, 215 cases of Mpox have been declared to Public Health France since January 1^is January 2024, including 4 over the last 9 days,” adds the ministry.

At the end of November, the World Health Organization decided to maintain its highest level of alert regarding the Mpox epidemic, whose number of cases and affected countries continues to increase. “This decision was taken due to the increasing number of cases and their continued geographic spread, operational challenges on the ground and the need to establish and maintain a coherent response between countries and partners,” underlined the WHO

A mutation responsible for “a more serious disease”

Currently, two concomitant epidemics are raging, one caused by clade 1 in Central Africa, mainly affecting children, and another by this new variant, clade 1b, which affects adults in another region, to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It is from this last variant that the Breton woman would suffer, relate our colleagues from West France. Clade 1b is “responsible for more serious disease”explained on August 8 the Director General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Indeed, it would cause more serious symptoms such as generalized rashes all over the body. Its mortality rate is estimated at 3.6%..