Thailand has detected an mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa last week and is awaiting test results to determine the strain, a disease control official said on Wednesday.
Thai authorities were handling the case as if it were the Clade 1 variant of mpox. The individual, a 66-year-old European man residing in Thailand, had arrived on August 14 from an African country where the disease was spreading, according to Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, in an interview with Reuters.
“After he arrives from the flight there is very little time frame where he comes into contact with others,” Thongchai said. “He arrived around 6 pm and on the next day, Aug 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital.”
Thongchai said the man has undergone a test to determine whether the case was a Clade 1 variant, with the result expected by Friday. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people in the country who may come into contact with the patient, he said.
The director-general did not name the African country the man had been in. He said the man had transited in a Middle Eastern country, which he also did not name, before flying on to Thailand.
Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants.
International Organization for Migration has appealed for $18.5 mln to urgently aid mpox-affected populations in east, southern Africa.
(With inputs from Reuters)
