Since July 8, the High Authority for Health (HAS) has been recommending vaccination to groups of people most exposed to the monkeypox virus. In the Alpes-Maritimes, it will be offered from July 18 at the Nice University Hospital.
Already 47 cases of monkey pox have been identified in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in mid-July. The epidemic that has declared in the UK in May 2022 is spreading all over the world. In total, in France, 828 cases have been confirmed.
On the recommendation of the High Authority for Health (HAS), the Nice University Hospital is opening vaccination slots as soon as July 18. On Doctolib, it is very complicated to get an appointment, the slots are already taken by storm and doses are limited. Only those most at risk are affected by this vaccine.
Other centers in the department should nevertheless receive in the weeks to come, say our colleagues from nice morning
In the PACA region, six vaccination centers have been set up, one in each department. Vaccination is free, but you need to make an appointment beforehand.
The spread of monkeypox, particularly affects men who have homosexual sex. To date, in France, 97% of cases for which sexual orientation is given have occurred in men who have sex with men.
“Of the cases for which information is available, 75% report having had at least two sexual partners in the three weeks before the onset of symptoms”declares public health France.
LGBTQIA+ associations ask health authorities to target a population, in this case men who have sex with men and sex workers to protect them, but they also want to avoid any stigmatization. “When you stigmatize someone because he is sick, you ostracize him from society and that does not encourage treatment or entering into a circuit of prevention”, explains Erwann Le Hô, coordinator of the LGBTQIA+ Center of the Côte d’Azur, on France info.
But caution nevertheless on its world of transmission since five women have been affected, as well as two children. According to the first elements, any close contact with an infected person can lead to the transmission of the virus. Clothing, bedding, towels and items such as kitchen utensils and dishes that have been contaminated with the virus can be a source of transmission. The virus can also be transmitted from the pregnant woman to the fetus through the placenta, or from an infected parent to the child during childbirth or after birth through skin-to-skin contact.
The classic symptoms of monkeypox are: fever, severe headache, muscle aches, back pain, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, rash or lesions.
On Twitter, several testimonials from patients are flourishing:
The rash usually appears one to three days after the onset of fever. The skin lesions are usually flat or slightly raised, they may contain clear or yellowish liquid, then form a crust which dries up and eventually falls off. The number of lesions varies from a few to several thousand. The rash is usually concentrated on the face, the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. Lesions may also appear in the mouth, genitals and eyes.
Symptoms usually resolve spontaneously after two to four weeks without treatment.
Since the beginning of May, an unusual upsurge has been observed outside the countries ofCentral and West Africa, where the virus is endemic while usually generating relatively few cases there. Known in humans since 1970, monkeypox is a disease considered rare, caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals. However, in the current outbreak, human-to-human transmission is at the forefront, WHO considers likely that the actual number of cases is higher, and considers that the virus must have already been circulating before the current outbreak.
Since the Covid19 epidemic, several scientists agree on the fact that pandemics are likely to multiply, because of our consumption patterns and globalization.
In France, until 1979, the smallpox vaccine was mandatory.