They are - for now - very few, but strict rules apply to them.
As of May 25, 7 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been identified in France.
Their number will inevitably increase in the coming days.
Other people, whose precise number is not known, are considered “probable” or “suspect” cases awaiting the test result (with the PCR technique, as for Covid).
The symptoms suggestive of this disease are the appearance of plaques and crusts in certain areas of the skin.
On Wednesday evening, Public Health France updated the rules to be observed in terms of isolation.
Confirmed cases are people who have tested positive for the monkeypox virus - "monkey pox" in English -, or for a virus belonging to the same family and having a specific profile (return from a country at risk, multiple sexual partners, etc. ).
They must “isolate themselves at home for a period of three weeks from their date of onset of symptoms”, provided of course that their clinical condition does not require hospitalization.
Different masks, linens and dishes…
At home, these patients “must wear a mask, isolate themselves from other people”, and “must not share their clothes, their linens and bedding or their dishes with other people”.
At least twice a week, they are contacted by their regional health agency (ARS) “in order to verify compliance with isolation and, in the event of aggravation, to direct them towards the regulation of SAMU”.
As with Covid-19, their doctor can provide them with full-time telework authorization, or even a work stoppage.
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These rules are almost the same for "probable" cases, that is to say people with symptoms suggestive of monkeypox and who have been exposed to the virus during the previous three weeks.
This 21-day period corresponds to the incubation period, which separates the infection from the appearance of symptoms.
As for “suspect” cases, who show symptoms but do not have a risk profile, they “must remain isolated at home pending the test result”.
Several foreign countries have taken similar measures.
In Belgium and Germany, for example, the authorities have also announced that sick people must respect a three-week isolation.
In the United States, isolation measures must last "until all lesions have disappeared and a new layer of skin has formed", indicates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Contact cases sometimes encouraged to isolate themselves
Some states have gone even further.
In Germany, contact cases at risk are also strongly encouraged to quarantine for 21 days.
Ditto in the United Kingdom, the second European country which lists the largest number of biologically confirmed patients (82 to May 25).
The British health agency “advises” contact cases at risk but in good health to “isolate themselves at home for up to 21 days”.
In France, contact cases at risk “are not isolated at home but they are invited to monitor their temperature morning and evening and to check for the appearance of a rash up to three weeks after the last contact with the case” , details the High Council of Public Health.
The ARS calls them “at least twice a week to verify the absence of symptoms”, specifies Public Health France.
If signs of the disease appear, these people should not go to their doctor or to the emergency room but should call the Samu on 15.