Variole of monkey: Sixteen “confirmed” cases in France

In these sixteen cases, twelve have been reported in Ile-de-France, one in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, two in Occitanie and one in Normandy, according to Public Health France.

Le Monde with AFP

France had, Saturday, May 28, sixteen “confirmed” cases of infection in the virus of the variole of the monkey, according to the figures reported on Sunday by public health France. According to the National Public Health Agency, out of these sixteen cases, twelve have been reported in Ile-de-France, one in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, two in Occitania and one in Normandy.

A previous assessment reported seven cases “proven”, announced on Wednesday the new Minister of Health, Brigitte Bourguignon. An upcoming assessment of the balance sheet must be carried out on Monday, according to Public Health France.

The country has stocks necessary to vaccinate, according to the Minister

M Me Bourguignon had indicated that the authorities did not expect a “outbreak” of the disease, and that the country had sufficient stocks of vaccines for people in contact with contacts. The Directorate General of Health told the France-Presse agency on Friday, that two first people, considered to have had at risk with a patient’s variolate patient, were vaccinated in Paris, at the Bichat Hospital. The minister had also specified that she was going to discuss on Monday with her European counterparts “strategies that [they] adopt [have]” about this disease. “For the moment, the situation is under control, it is controlled,” she said.

Faced with the paramedics of the monkey, in a notice made on Tuesday, the High Authority for Health recommended the vaccination of adults, including health professionals, having had risky contact with a patient. The vario of monkey (monkeypox in English) or similar orthopoxvirosis is a disease considered to be rare, known in humans since 1970. It has been due to a DNA virus.