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1,700 people in France infected with monkeypox: minister
Braun said the government so far had opened about 100 vaccination centres for monkeypox and that more than 6,000 people have received a preventive vaccination.
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This undated electron microscopic (EM) handout image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention depicts a monkeypox virion, obtained from a clinical sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. It was a thin section image from a human skin sample. On the left were mature, oval-shaped virus particles, and on the right were the crescents, and spherical particles of immature virions. (AFP/Cynthia Goldsmith)
About 1700 people had been infected with monkeypox in France, Health Minister Francois Braun said on Monday.
Braun said the government so far had opened about 100 vaccination centres for monkeypox and that more than 6,000 people have received a preventive vaccination.
Braun called on patients who have lesions or other symptoms to self-isolate as soon as possible.
Braun said he did not see a major threat for the general public and said the government would focus its vaccination campaign on target groups considered the most at risk.
"The profile (of the patients) is that they are mainly men who have had sexual relations with other men, but one can also be infected by contact with a patient's blisters," Braun said in an interview with BFM TV in which he gave the number of infections.
Most of the infections have taken place in the Paris region, he said, adding that a dedicated major vaccination centre would open in Paris this week.
The World Health Organization said on Saturday that the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak represents a global health emergency. So far this year, there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries, and five deaths in Africa.
The viral disease has been spreading chiefly in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside Africa where it is endemic.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the monkeypox outbreak in the country a public health emergency, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The government is also planning to name a White House coordinator to oversee the country's response to the outbreak, according to the report.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The news comes days after the World Health Organization issued a high-level alert, declaring the outbreak of the mild viral infection a global health emergency.
So far, nearly 70 countries in which monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with confirmed cases crossing 16,600.
Two cases of monkeypox, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, were identified in the United States among children for the first time last week
