Date of document: 09/06/2022 Date of publication: 10/06/2022

In addition to its statement published on the 24th of May 2022, the French High Council for Public Health (HCSP) recommends the followings for people at risk of severe forms of Monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection, including confirmed cases or contacts:

• people with severe MPXV infection must be hospitalized;
• for people with mild MPXV infection, home isolation is recommended when the patient has been assessed as suitable and should be maintained until recovery (disappearance of skin lesions). Monitoring of clinical signs (temperature, skin condition) can be passive, carried out by the patient him/herself in the absence of risk factors for severe disease (immunosuppression, pregnancy, childhood) with a minimum weekly call to the regional health agency (ARS). A telephone number is given to the patient for calling in the event of worsening symptoms. In the presence of risk factors for severe forms, an active surveillance will be required by a dedicated medical team (under the coordination of the ARS) using telemedicine, multi-weekly telephone calls or home visits. If the conditions are not met at home, surveillance in an ad hoc structure or even through a transitory hospitalization for patients with risk factors for severe disease must be considered;
• for contacts of a case of MPXV infection, an assessment should be carried out to quantify the risk of contamination. Contacts should not be placed under eviction; their vaccination should be discussed according to the recommendations of the HAS (High Agency for Health). The HCSP recommends that contact people who are not at risk of severe disease should carry out self-monitoring (appearance of clinical signs) for 21 days following their last contact and that those at risk of severe disease should be removed from the home; for the latter contacts, surveillance should be carried out by a dedicated medical team, under the coordination of the ARS.

The HCSP also specifies the procedure to be followed for cases of MPXV infections occurring in communities of children and adults.