France has 1,453 confirmed cases of monkeypox virus infection, health authorities announced on Wednesday, specifying that this notable increase should not be interpreted as “an exceptional increase” because it includes an “updating of the data”.

“As of July 19, 2022 at 12 pm, 1,453 confirmed cases have been identified in France,” including six women and two children, the Public Health France agency said on its site.

The previous evaluation, seven days earlier, reported 912 cases.

“The increase in the number of cases since the last published report has been spread over the last few weeks and should not be interpreted as an exceptional increase, although an upward trend is observed,” he stressed.

Most cases in Île-de-France

Of all the registered cases, “678 residents in Ile-de-France, 111 in Occitanie, 103 in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, 65 in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, 55 in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, 41 in Hauts-de- France, 25 in Grand Est, 18 in Normandy, 15 in Pays-de-la-Loire, 9 in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, 9 in Centre-Val de Loire, 9 in Brittany and 1 in Martinique”, details SPF.

Of the cases that were investigated, 78% had a genitoanal rash, 72% had a rash elsewhere on the body, 76% fever. In addition, 274 cases are HIV positive and 513 are in HIV PreP.

Faced with the increase in monkeypox cases and the difficulties in tracking contamination chains, France announced ten days ago the extension of vaccination, now offered preventively to the most exposed groups, in particular homosexuals and multipartner bisexuals, like in other countries.

Faced with growing criticism for the difficulties in getting an appointment, the Government and health authorities assured last week that there were enough smallpox vaccines and that the doses were gradually reaching 70 centers.

More than 10,000 cases detected worldwide

The WHO Emergency Committee will meet on Thursday to determine ways to stop the monkeypox outbreak, which has crossed the 10,000-case mark in some 60 countries, with Europe at its epicenter.

The European Commission announced on Monday the purchase of 54,530 additional doses of the vaccine from the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic, concerned about an increase in cases of “almost 50%” in the EU in a week.

A distant cousin of smallpox, but considered much less dangerous, monkeypox usually clears up on its own after two to three weeks.