The resigning Minister Delegate for Health, Frédéric Valletoux, said in an interview to be published on Sunday 18 August in The Tribune Sundaythat“There is a strong possibility of sporadic cases” of the new variant of mpox “appear, and probably soon”, In France.
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Faced with the rapid spread of this new, more lethal strain of the virus, known as “clade 1b”, the World Health Organization (WHO) triggered its highest level of alert on Wednesday and its European branch warned that the Old Continent should experience more imported cases in the “next days”.
A first case was discovered on Thursday in Sweden in a person who had been to Africa, where the epidemic, which started in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is spreading. In France, the resigning Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, announced on Friday that the health system was being placed on lockdown. “state of maximum vigilance”while no cases of MPOX clade 1b – a disease formerly known as monkeypox – have yet been reported there.
“Robust stocks” of vaccines
“About 150,000 people” have been vaccinated in France over the last three years, following the clade 2 epidemic wave of 2002, but “It is too early to be certain about the level of effectiveness of the vaccines” on the new variant, explained Frédéric Valletoux. “Today, we have robust stocks that allow for an appropriate response. We have more than in 2022 and we can order quickly if necessary”he assured. “We will continue vaccination” which will however remain limited to “most exposed public”according to the minister.
The authorities will “notify all persons who have travelled to the affected areas, upon departure and arrival of each flight”also explained Frédéric Valletoux. Awareness of “publics most exposed to this risk through appropriate associations and networks” is planned, but it is “of a type of epidemic whose mode of diffusion and contamination has nothing to do with Covid-19. We must therefore reassure the population”the minister still believes.
The spread of this virus occurs through sexual intercourse or closer contact between people than that of Covid-19, according to scientists.
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