The patient with illnesses and symptoms associated with mpox was admitted to a hospital on Aug 15, a day after his arrival in Bangkok. Laboratory tests on Thursday confirmed the variant as clade Ib and Thailand will report the result to the World Health Organization, the ministry said in a statement.
Thailand became the first country in Asia to detect the new mutated strain of the mpox virus, as the pathogen spreads to more geographies after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak in Africa a new global health emergency.
The patient who tested positive for clade Ib was a European male who arrived in Bangkok last week from Africa, according to the Department of Disease Control of Thailand’s health ministry. Authorities have identified 43 close contacts of the 66-year-old patient and put them under surveillance.
