2024-08-23 10:15:10
The Thai authorities have detected the new Mpox variant clade Ib in a European. The man had previously been in Africa.
Thailand has confirmed the first case of Mpox disease in Asia, which was caused by the virus variant currently rampant in Africa. Laboratory tests have confirmed that a European patient was infected with the virus subgroup 1b, the Thai disease prevention authority said. The 66-year-old European landed in Bangkok on August 14th from Africa and was sent to hospital with Mpox symptoms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will be kept informed of further developments, the authority in Bangkok said. The infected patient is in quarantine in the hospital. In addition, 43 people who had been in close contact with the patient are being monitored. “So far they have not shown any symptoms, but we have to monitor them for a total of 21 days.” According to the Thai authorities, travelers from 42 “risk countries” must register and be tested upon entry.
The number of Mpox cases and deaths is currently increasing in Africa. Since July, outbreaks have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern due to the currently rampant, more dangerous virus variant 1b and urged vaccine manufacturers to increase production.
Symptoms include fever, aching limbs and smallpox-like pustules on the skin. For decades, the disease was known as monkeypox. Read here why it was renamed Mpox. Until a few years ago, infections were mostly limited to cases in which people had eaten the meat of infected animals.
During an epidemic in 2022, the disease was mainly transmitted through sex, primarily affecting men who had sex with men. This time, the virus is also spreading through close, non-sexual physical contact between people. Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of the disease prevention agency, believes that Mpox spreads much more slowly than the coronavirus because infection is only possible through very close physical contact.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 500 people have already died of Mpox this year, many of them malnourished children. Last Thursday, Sweden was the first non-African country to report an Mpox infection caused by the virus subgroup 1b. In an interview with t-online, an expert explains how likely further Mpox cases are in Europe.