This is the first case of contamination in France in a person who has not traveled to Africa.
The Ministry of Health confirmed this Monday the first case of the new Mpox variant identified in France. This concerns a woman infected in Brittany and presenting clade 1b, the new variant of Mpox. She did not travel to Central Africa, an area in which the different clades of Mpox viruses have been actively circulating for several months, including clade 1b, but was in contact with two people who returned from there.
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As a reminder, four countries in the European Economic Area have recorded cases of clade I b mpox since the summer of 2024: Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
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. “Since the 2022 epidemic, clade II b of the Monkeypox virus has been circulating quietly in France”recalls the Ministry of Health. In 2024, 215 cases of mpox, all due to clade II b, were declared to Public Health France, with an average of 3 cases declared per week at the end of the year. Until now, no case of clade I had been detected in France.
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Among the preventive measures, the health authorities recall the importance of vaccination for target audiences and the application of barrier gestures. And to detail the people at high risk of exposure. Namely, “men who have sex with men (MSM) reporting multiple partners and trans people reporting multiple partners; sex workers/people in prostitution; professionals in places of sexual consumption; partners or people sharing the same living space as those at high risk of exposure mentioned above”.
Since September 2024, the High Council of Public Health (HCSP) has recommended that people with close ties to Central African countries where the mpox virus is actively circulating, including people regularly visiting their families or humanitarian workers, be vaccinated. against mpox before their trip.
The contact details of vaccination centers against the Mpox virus are available on the Santé.fr website A toll-free number Mpox info service is also set up at 0 801 90 80 69.
