The health authorities are making a new assessment of cases of monkeypox or monkeypox in France. Five people are infected with the virus, including one in Occitania. A first in the region.
Five cases of monkeypox (“Monkeypox”) have been identified in France, including one in Occitaniaone in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and three in Ile-de-France announced Public Health France (SPF) on Tuesday.
“To date, in Europe, these cases have occurred mainly, but not exclusively, in men who have sex with menwith no direct link to people returning from endemic areas,” added the French health authorities.
A virus under surveillance
“In the usual absence of Monkeypox in Europe and of a link reported by the cases identified with a risk zone, the current European context constitutes an alert and suggests contamination in Europe, continues Public Health France. This is why, in France , the long-term monitoring of Monkeypox through the mandatory reporting system is reinforced and information and alert messages are sent to health professionals. Exchanges are also continuing with other European countries”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) are also mobilized on the subject. Between 15 and 23 May, a total of 67 EU-acquired cases of monkeypox were reported in nine EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden), the ECDC reported on Monday. On Tuesday, 57 cases were confirmed, moreover, in the United Kingdom, and 30 in Spain, the currently most affected European Union country, where two sources of contamination have been identified, in a gay sauna located in Madrid, as well as a “pride” which took place from May 5 to 15 in the Canary Islands, BFMTV reported on Tuesday.
Recommended vaccination
Seized by the Directorate General of Health (DGS), after the appearance of these cases in several countries, the High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended on Tuesday to vaccinate adults who have been in contact with a person infected with smallpox. monkey, including health professionals.
The HAS recommends, for this, the exclusive use of the third generation vaccine, more effective and better tolerated. This strategy “seems relevant in view of the incubation times of the disease often between six and sixteen days”, and in view of the vaccination strategy adopted in other European countries, estimates the HAS. The virus was first discovered in monkeys in 1958, hence its name. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated on Tuesday that the epidemic, which intrigues scientists and worries people, remains at present “controllable”.