France had 330 confirmed cases of infection with the monkeypox virus on Thursday, health authorities announced, adding that the first infected woman had a partner who previously reported a rash.
“As of June 23, 2022 at 2:00 p.m., 330 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported in France,”
said the Public Health Agency France on its site.
The previous report, Tuesday, reported 277 cases, including, for the first time, a woman.
Read alsoMonkey pox: WHO calls for vigilance and transparency
In the case of this
"young woman",
the health agency said on Thursday,
"the (untested) partner reported that he had had a rash 3 weeks before".
Until now, the current outbreak of monkeypox, which is affecting some forty countries, mainly but not exclusively concerns men who have had homosexual relations, with no direct link to people returning from endemic areas.
More than 3200 cases worldwide
The WHO on Thursday called on countries to be vigilant and transparent in the face of a rare outbreak of more than 3,200 cases of monkeypox worldwide, while waiting to decide whether it triggers its highest level of alert.
His decision on whether the situation constitutes a
"public health emergency of international concern"
is not expected to be known until at least Friday.
Monkeypox first manifests as a high fever and quickly progresses to a rash.
The disease, hitherto contained in a dozen African countries, usually heals spontaneously after two to three weeks.
Read alsoMonkey pox: patients should avoid contact with their pets as much as possible
Of all the cases observed in France, there are
“227 in Ile-de-France, 22 in Occitania, 21 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 19 in New Aquitaine, 14 in Hauts-de-France, 14 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, 6 in Normandy, 3 in Brittany, 1 in Centre-Val de Loire, 1 in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, 1 in Pays de la Loire and 1 in Grand-Est "
, detail health authorities.
Among the cases investigated, 77% presented a genito-anal rash, 73% a rash on another part of the body, 71% a fever, etc.
Among the cases investigated, 13 are immunocompromised.
None died.
