United States – Thailand confirmed a mpox case in a European man who traveled from Africa last week; the strain of the disease is still to be confirmed pending the results of a test, a disease control official said Wednesday.
Details of the Case
Thai officials were handling it as a Clade 1 form of mpox because the man, a 66-year-old European man with residency in Thailand, traveled to Thailand on August 14 from an African country where it was circulating, the department’s director-general Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn informed 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 the next day, August 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital.”
Ongoing Investigation and Public Health Response
Thongchai said the man had been tested to determine if the case was of Clade 1 variant and that the findings should be ready by Friday. He also added that there are 43 people in the country who are being closely observed as likely to encounter the patient in the near future.
Travel History and Precautions
The director-general did not reveal which African country the man has been in. He said the man had passed through a Middle Eastern country that he did not specify before travelling to Thailand.
Thailand has reported 800 case of mpox Clade 2 after 2022, and no case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b has been identified yet in the country.