Thailand reported on Thursday the first recorded instance of a new, deadlier strain of mpox in Asia, in a patient who had traveled from Africa to the kingdom.
The patient arrived in Bangkok on August 14 and was admitted to the hospital with mpox symptoms.
According to the Department of Disease Control, laboratory examinations on the 66-year-old European verified his mpox Clade 1b infection.
“Thailand’s Department of Disease Control wishes to confirm the lab test result which shows mpox Clade 1b in a European patient,” 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 have been in close contact with the patient and so far they have shown no symptoms, but we must continue monitoring for a total of 21 days.”
Anyone traveling to Thailand from 42 “risk countries” must register and be tested upon arrival, according to the government.
Mpox cases and deaths are increasing 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 a global public health emergency over the new mpox type, asking producers to increase vaccine manufacturing.
The sickness, caused by a virus carried by infected animals but spread from person to person by intimate physical contact, causes fever, muscle pains, and big boil-like skin blisters.
While mpox has been known for decades, a new deadly and transmissible strain, called as Clade 1b, has driven the recent spike in cases.
According to the WHO, Clade 1b causes death in approximately 3.6 percent of cases, with children being particularly vulnerable.
Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director of the Thai Department of Disease Control, stated that mpox was considerably less likely to spread quickly than Covid-19 because to the close contact required to catch it.