Thailand has announced its first confirmed cases of a potentially deadly new strain of MPOX, the first in Asia and the second outside Africa.
According to Thailand's Department of Disease Control, the infected 66-year-old European man arrived in Bangkok from an unnamed African country on August 14.
He began experiencing symptoms the next day and immediately went to hospital, where it was later confirmed that he had MPOX infection, specifically a strain known as clade 1b.
At least 450 people have died from MPOX since the outbreak began last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since then, MPOX has spread to neighboring countries not previously affected by MPOX, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
A more concerning strain of MPOX, called “clade 1b,” has now been identified in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and is spreading along borders and into neighbouring countries.
Sweden confirmed its first case of lineage 1b outside the African continent a week ago, with the Swedish Ministry of Health saying at the time that the infected man had also recently travelled to an unnamed African country.
The infection in Thailand is the first confirmed case of lineage 1b in Asia.
Mpox is transmitted through close contact such as sex, skin-to-skin contact, talking or breathing in close proximity to another person, but its contagiousness is much lower than other viruses such as COVID and measles.
But the new variant's spread in parts of Africa and its increased mortality rate has raised concern among scientists, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
The spread of the disease can be curbed by raising awareness of the disease, tracing close contacts, and preventing infection through vaccinations, but these vaccines are usually only available to people at risk of infection or who have had close contact with infected people.
Vaccine supplies are in short supply across Africa, but millions of doses are planned to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the next week or so.
In Thailand, the Department of Disease Control was tracing the whereabouts of about 43 patients who were sitting in a row near the unidentified man, as well as people who met him after he arrived.
All will be monitored for 21 days.
Thailand is also requiring travellers from 42 “risk countries” to undergo testing on arrival.
Mpox causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. For most people it is a mild illness, but it can be fatal.
The new strain, spreading in Central Africa, is believed to be more deadly than its predecessor, with four deaths in every 100 cases. Mpox is most common in the rainforests of West and Central Africa, where it infects thousands of people every year.
The other lineage (clade 2) is much milder but caused a global public health emergency in 2022. Many countries still have cases of this MPOX lineage.
