222 cases of mpox in France, January 2024-2025

From 1 January 2024 to 7 January 2025, 222 cases of MPOX were reported to the French Public Health authority. In January 2025, a first case of clade Ib was confirmed by Orthopoxvirus CNR. The reported cases are all adults: 213 men and 9 women. All cases are adult patients aged between 18 and 70 years (median age 36 years). The geographical distribution of the cases revealed that approximately half of the cases (n=104, 47%) were residents of the Ile de France region. In 27% of the reported cases, the patient claimed to have travelled to a foreign country within the three weeks prior to the onset of symptoms, with Spain being the most frequently visited country. Only four patients had travelled to a country in sub-Saharan Africa (Ivory Coast, Senegal and Madagascar). Notably, none of the eight cases of mpox clade IIb recorded had travelled in the three weeks prior to the onset of symptoms. The clade Ib case confirmed in 2025 involved a female patient who had not recently travelled to Africa but had contact with two subjects who had previously stayed in Africa, in areas where the virus was circulating. Investigations are underway to determine the origin of the contagion and to carry out contact tracing to offer them the appropriate vaccination prophylaxis.