Thailand detects the first deadlier case of mpox infection in Asia

The patient reportedly arrived in Thailand from Africa.

According to reports, the infected person arrived at Bangkok airport from an African nation on August 14.

He was sent to hospital after he showed symptoms of mpox.

Also read: Europe can defeat mpox, must support Africa in getting vaccines, assures WHO

This is the first confirmed case of Clade 1b in Asia.

“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 as quoted by The Guardian.

Earlier, Sweden detected the first case of the deadlier strain of the mpox outside the Africa continent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern, following the rapid spread of a new strain of the disease known as clade 1b from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Clade 1b is mainly transmitted through sexual contact, although the WHO said on Tuesday that more research was needed into other potential modes of infection from the blisters that are associated with the disease, such as contaminated bedding.

Latest WHO data indicates more than 15,000 suspected cases in the DRC including 537 deaths so far. The global total of mpox cases is more than 100,000.

The disease is known to transmit from animals to humans and spread by close contact with infected individuals or animals through respiratory droplets, blood, body fluids, or lesions. Symptoms include fever, rash, headaches, sore throat, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and backache.