Mpox Scare: Thailand Records First Suspected Case Of Highly Contagious Clade 1B Strain In Traveller From Africa

Thailand's Department of Disease Control said that it has detected an mpox case in a man who travelled from Africa, which might be the first Clade 1b strain case in the country.

Thailand's Department of Disease Control said on Wednesday that the country might have its first case of new and more transmissible strain of Monkepox (Mpox). The case was detected in a European man, who had arrived from Africa last week. The DDC is currently awaiting his test results to determine the strain and is also closely monitoring the health of 43 other passengers who were seated near him on the plane.

DDC director general Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn stated that the European patient is a 66-year-old man who resides in Thailand but worked in Africa, where mpox is endemic, Bangkok Post reported.

He had arrived from Africa on August 14 on a connect flight from the Middle East. The next day after landing in Thailand, the man had fever and noticed he had started developing multiple rashes on his body. He then rushed to a hospital for an examination, following which he was diagnosed with mpox.

"After he arrives from the flight there is very little time frame where he come into contact with others," news agency Reuters quoted Thongchai as saying.

"He arrives around 6 pm and on the next day, August 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital," he said.

'Still Not 100% Confirmed If It Is Clade 1b Strain': DDC 

Until his test results come, his case is being treated as the Clade 1 form of mpox. Thongchai stated that the in-depth test will help determine whether the case was a Clade 1 variant. The test results are expected to come in by Friday.

As per the initial examination, it was discovered that the strain was not the previously found Clade 2 strain, which was not easily transmissible. 

"So, it is still not 100 per cent confirmed if it is the Clade 1b case or not...Officials await genetic comaprison test results to confirm it on Friday...There is the possibility, though," Bangkok Post quoted Thongchai as saying.

He also stated that the DDC was spreading news to make people aware so that they exercise necessary precautions.

The 43 other passengers being examined by the Department of Disease Control include both Thais and foreigners. They have been advised to visit a doctor promptly to get examined if they had developed any symptom of mpox in the last three weeks.

Thongchai stated that they were not quarantined as Clade 1b was not as easily transmitted as Covid-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the mpox Clade 1b outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

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 had reported its first case of mpox of Clade 2 strain in 2022. Since then, there have been around 800 case of mpox Clade 2, including 140, which were recorded this year. So far Thailand has not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants.