Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand has detected a mpox case in a tourist who is suspiciously the first case of Clade 1b infection in the Southeast Asian country, local authorities said on August 21.
According to Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, General Director of Thailand’s Department of Disease Control, the patient is a European visitor who arrived in Thailand from an African country. The patient has taken quarantine in hospital.
Experts are currently conducting tests to confirm the strain of virus the patient has contracted. Although the official results will not be available in two days, the medical community believes that the case is a Clade 1 variant.
Cases and deaths from mpox are on the rise in Africa, with outbreaks reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since July.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently declared a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC), the organisation’s highest alert level for an epidemic after the number of infections of Clade 1b (which is more contagious and potentially deadly) surged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread beyond its borders.
Mpox can be transmitted from person to person through physical contact. It usually causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled sores. It is usually mild, but can be fatal or lead to serious complications in many cases, especially in children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV.
Sweden was the first country outside of Africa to detect Clade 1b. According to WHO data, Clade 1b is currently fatal in about 3.6% of all mpox cases./.
Mpox poses serious threat to Thailand: expert
Dr Yong Poovorawan, a clinical virologist at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, said in a recent Facebook post that mpox's Clade 1b subvariant, which can be transmitted via respiratory droplets, poses a particular risk.
