PARIS, France — France has detected its first case of a new mpox virus, the health ministry said Monday7xm, weeks after the World Health Organization maintained its highest alert level amid the epidemic.

A case of the clade 1b variant was confirmed in the western Brittany region and "the recommended oversight measures have been implemented", the ministry said in a statement.

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Mpox, previously known as monkeypox and related to smallpox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

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It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can be deadly.

The WHO declared an emergency over the virus in August and renewed it on November 22 following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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France's health ministry said the case concerned "a person who had not travelled to central Africa, a region where several clades variants of the virus have been circulating for several months".

"However this person was in contact with two people who returned from central Africa. Inquiries are underway to find the origin of the infection and identify all people in contact."

Clade 1b and other mpox strains have been reported across 80 countries -- 19 of them in Africa -- so far this year, WHO has said previously.

The agency has warned European nations to be prepared for "rapid action" to contain the latest variant.7xm