THE ESSENTIAL
- Monkeypox can have several symptoms: fever, headache, swollen glands or even a rash.
- The diagnosis of monkeypox is made through a biological test (PCR). Complications occur in 1-10% of cases
In his last update, Public Health France identified, on the evening of August 23, 3,421 confirmed cases of monkeypox. While 35 women and 15 children were infected with this infection, the majority of patients are men who have sex with men.
No deaths
Regarding the severity of the disease, regarding 3% of patients were admitted to hospital, but no deaths were reported. Several symptoms explain these hospitalizations: complications following the infection, intense pain, angina with difficulty eating, or even ophthalmological damage. Nevertheless, the real number of patients might be higher than the figures issued by the health authorities, according to SPF.
A downward trend
In Europe, the bar of 20,000 cases has been crossed, according to the european center for disease prevention and control. Nevertheless, a decrease in cases is observed on the continent, particularly in France. According to the authorities, “the number of contaminations seems to have peaked at the end of June/beginning of July and since then the number of cases has tended to decrease”.
If the figures decrease, caregivers ask for confirmations on the long term. “It is rather good and reassuring news, provided that it is confirmed in the coming weeks. (…) It shows that what we are doing is effective, so we must continue without releasing our efforts to go to the end and achieve true control of the epidemic”, says to the Parisian Jean-Michel Molina, head of the infectious diseases department at Saint-Louis hospital in Paris.
As a reminder, some 50,000 people have already been vaccinated in France. The Minister of Health, French Braun, welcomed the fact that France is “one of the countries in the world where we vaccinate the most, with the United States”.
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