France has just recorded its first case of the new variant of MPOX (Monkeypox – MPX), the health authorities, who intend to be reassuring on the risk of infection for the general population, announced on Monday.
“The Ministry of Labor, Health” was informed of “a first human case of MPOX of Clade 1B on the national territory, in Brittany. The recommended management measures have been implemented, “the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
“The declared case concerns a person who has not traveled in Central Africa, a zone in which the various MPOX virus clades have been actively circulating for several months, including the CLADE 1B,” said the press release.
“However, this person has been in contact with two people returning from Central Africa, the investigations are underway to seek the origin of the contamination and identify all of the contacts,” he adds.
The ministry recalls that four countries of the European Union have identified cases of CLADE 1B MPOX since this summer: Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
The risk of infection by CLADE I of Monkeypox for the general population in France and in Europe is considered weak by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), notes the press release.
The World Health Organization (WHO) decreed the MPOX World Sanitary Emergency following an important epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has spread to neighboring African countries.
Health monitoring in Tunisia
In Tunisia, reinforced monitoring measures are set up, especially at the borders, in response to the WHO World Emergency Declaration. Although no case has been detected, the situation remains under close surveillance, particularly due to the challenges posed by migratory flows and the fragility of the Libyan health system.
The risk is all the greater since the uncontrolled influx of migrants from sub -Saharan Africa, often without any health control, could facilitate the introduction of the virus to Tunisia.
MPOX, a viral infection
MPOX, a potentially fatal viral infection, worried by its apparently more contagious clade variant.
The WHO believes that the fight against the new strain will also benefit the control of the less severe variant of Clade 2, present since 2022.
Unlike COVVI-19, MPOX is mainly transmitted by close physical contact.
