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Thailand on Thursday confirmed Asia’s first known case of infection with the new, deadly MPox virus strain in a patient who travelled to the country from Africa.
The patient arrived in Bangkok on August 14 and was taken to the hospital with symptoms of MPOX.
The disease control department said laboratory tests conducted on the 66-year-old European man confirmed that he was infected with MPox Clade 1b.
“The Thai Disease Control Department hopes to confirm laboratory test results that showed a European patient was infected with MPox Clade 1b,” the department said in a statement, adding that the World Health Organization (WHO) would be informed of the development.
“We have monitored 43 people who had close contact with the patient and so far they have not shown any symptoms, but we must continue monitoring for a total of 21 days.”
Anyone travelling to Thailand from 42 “risk countries” must register and be tested on arrival, the department said.
Poxvirus cases and deaths are surging in Africa, with outbreaks reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since July.
The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus variant a global public health emergency and urged manufacturers to increase vaccine production.
The disease, caused by a virus spread by infected animals but transmitted from person to person through close physical contact, causes fever, muscle aches and large, boil-like skin lesions.
Although the MPOx virus has been known for decades, a new, more deadly and contagious strain — dubbed Clade 1b — has been responsible for the recent surge in cases.
According to the World Health Organization, influenza type 1b causes death in about 3.6% of cases, with children being more at risk.
Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of Thailand’s disease control department, said mpox is far less likely to spread quickly than Covid-19 because close contact is required to infect.
AFP
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