Transmission, animal reservoir and vaccination protection: many studies show that the disease has not yet revealed all its mysteries.
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The reflux of the variolate epidemic of the monkey is confirmed. After four weeks of continuous decrease in the number of new cases worldwide, viral traffic seems to decrease everywhere in Europe and North America; Even if the surf is a little slower in Latin America. The number of cases totaled since May is more than 57,000, including twenty -two dead – two -thirds in Africa. The trend is also confirmed in France, where a peak in contamination was probably reached in early July.
“We feared the effect of summer, with its great gatherings and its greatest sexual freedom, but in fact the explosion of cases did not take place”, underlines Brigitte Autran, immunologist who now presides over the Committee for monitoring and anticipation of health risks. For the moment, the epidemic has remained rather circumscribed to men with sex with men, even if transmission to the rest of the population remains possible. In France, 79 women were contaminated (2.1 % of 3,833 cases identified since the beginning of May) and nine children.
This decrease is certainly explained by two factors: on the one hand, the rapid dissemination of information concerning this disease and the adoption of barriers (isolation, self-examination, etc.) in the population at risk; On the other hand, the establishment of a preventive vaccination in early July. “The factor that has played the most is the change in behavior, explains Yannick Simonin, virologist of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) at the University of Montpellier. The MonkeyPox virus is transmitting Less easily than that of COVVI-19, the efforts of behavioral modifications are all the more chargeable. “
Despite the slightly slow beginnings of the vaccination campaign in France, 91,000 people received at least one dose of the Imvansne vaccine, for a target population estimated at 250,000 people. There are now 243 operational vaccination centers and five pharmacies. The Minister of Health, François Braun, indicated, Tuesday, September 13, that if he remained a lack of offer in certain territories, he was “open – in connection with the regional health agencies concerned and very targeted ways – to further strengthen the proposed vaccination offer “.
It is too early to shout Victoire
The risk, with the decline in viral traffic, is that the vaccine demand drops and people do not claim their second injection. “Even if the first injection gives immediate protection, it is the second which allows you to acquire a robust immune memory,” recalls Brigitte Autran.
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