France reports first case of more severe mpox strain

France reported its first case of a new strain of mpox that has ravaged Central Africa over the past year, in a patient who had not travelled to the hotspot region.

The patient in the French region of Brittany had been in contact with two people who travelled from Central Africa. French health authorities said they are investigating the source of the infection and tracking down potential contacts.

France’s health agency said that while the risk to the general public remains low, “sporadic cases, linked to countries with more intense viral circulation, may occur”.

The new strain has global authorities worried because it has spread rapidly and appears to evade existing diagnostics. It’s also a subset of clade 1, which can lead to more severe illness than clade 2, which caused the international mpox outbreak in 2022.

There have been more than 69,000 suspected mpox cases across 20 African countries and nearly 1,300 deaths since the beginning of 2024, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) particularly hard hit by the current outbreak.

Sweden became the first European country to report a case of clade 1b in August. Since then, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Belgium have reported cases of clade 1b among people who had recently travelled abroad or their household contacts.

Outside of Europe and Africa, clade 1b cases have also been reported in Canada, India, Thailand, and the United States.

In light of the new case in France, the health agency urged high-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men and sex workers as well as people with close ties to countries where the virus is spreading, to get vaccinated against mpox.

Mpox can cause a rash, fever, headache, chills, lymph node swelling, and respiratory symptoms.