Prime Highlights:
A patient in Brittany tested positive for a new, more dangerous strain of mpox, linked to recent travellers from Central Africa.
The new strain, part of clade 1, is associated with more severe symptoms and greater spread than the clade 2 strain, which caused the 2022 global outbreak.
France is the fifth European country to report clade 1b cases, joining Sweden, Germany, the UK, and Belgium. Cases have also been detected in Canada, India, Thailand, and the US.
Key Background:
France has reported its first case of a new, potentially more dangerous strain of mpox, which has caused significant outbreaks in Central Africa over the past year. The patient, located in the Brittany region, had not traveled to Africa but had been in close contact with two individuals who had recently returned from the hotspot region. French health authorities are actively investigating the origin of the infection and tracing potential contacts.
This new strain of mpox is part of the clade 1 subset, a variant that has raised alarms globally due to its rapid spread and its ability to evade existing diagnostic methods. Unlike the clade 2 strain that was responsible for the 2022 global outbreak, clade 1 is associated with more severe illness, leading to increased concerns about its potential public health impact. However, the French Health Agency has emphasized that while the risk to the general public remains low, there could be sporadic cases linked to countries with higher levels of viral transmission.
The recent surge of this mpox strain has been particularly devastating in Central Africa. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), over 69,000 suspected cases and nearly 1,300 deaths have been reported across 20 African nations in 2024, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) facing the highest number of cases.
France becomes the fifth European country to identify cases of clade 1b, following Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Cases of the new strain have also been reported in Canada, India, Thailand, and the United States. In light of this new development, France’s health authorities have urged high-risk groups and individuals with close ties to countries experiencing outbreaks, to get vaccinated against mpox. Mpox, which can cause symptoms such as fever, headache, lymph node swelling, rash, and respiratory issues, continues to pose a threat to public health, particularly in regions where the virus is circulating more intensely.
