France Enters Highest Alert Level in Response to Influx of Mutant Mpox Variant

Tension Over Infection Cases in Sweden and Pakistan

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As cases of the mutated MPOX (formerly known as monkeypox) infection have been confirmed outside of Africa, France has also entered a state of highest alert.

Gabriel Attal, the resigned Prime Minister of France, announced on the 16th (local time) via X (formerly Twitter) that health authorities have decided to strengthen surveillance systems in preparation for the influx of the mutated MPOX. The MPOX clade 1, which is currently spreading mainly in Africa, is known to have higher transmissibility and fatality rates than clade 2, which caused an outbreak once in 2022.

Prime Minister Attal explained that new recommendations will be introduced for travelers visiting and returning from high-risk areas in Africa. Recommendations for vaccination will also be updated.

Additionally, Attal added that vaccines will be donated to the countries most affected in Africa to suppress the spread of MPOX within the continent.

The French Public Health Agency (SPF) stated in a press release that "no cases of MPOX clade 1 infection have been confirmed in France at present," and "since the MPOX outbreak in 2022, clade 2 virus has been quietly spreading."

The Public Health Agency reported that 107 cases of MPOX clade 2 infection were confirmed in France from January to June this year. Most cases were mild, and no deaths have been reported, the authorities added.

MPOX, which was endemic to Central and West Africa, began spreading worldwide from May 2022, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in July of that year. As the spread slowed in the latter half of the same year, the emergency status was lifted in May last year.

However, since September last year, mutated MPOX has started spreading in Africa, resulting in over 400 deaths this year alone, prompting WHO to re-declare the international public health emergency on the 14th.

Following this, with MPOX infection cases confirmed in Sweden in Northern Europe on the 15th and in Pakistan in Asia on the same day, concerns are growing that the mutated MPOX may be spreading worldwide beyond Africa.