The World Health Organization has declared a worldwide public health emergency in response to the probable first case of the new, more severe strain of mpox, which was reported in Thailand on Wednesday.
According to Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of Thailand’s Department of Disease Control, the patient is a European who came to the nation from Africa.
Although official identification of the strain is pending laboratory testing, the strain is thought to be of Clade 1. The hospital has placed the afflicted individual under quarantine.
“We have done a test and they definitely have mpox and it’s definitely not Clade 2,” Thongchai told AFP.
“We are convinced the person has the Clade 1 variant, but we have to wait to see the final result in the lab for two more days.”
In Africa, where outbreaks have been documented in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda since July, the number of mpox cases and fatalities is rising.
The illness, which is brought on by a virus that sick animals spread but that humans contract through intimate physical contact, is characterized by fever, aches in the muscles, and huge skin sores that resemble boils.
Although mpox has been recognized for many years, the recent increase in cases has been caused by a new, more lethal strain called Clade 1b.
The WHO reports that Clade 1b is responsible for approximately 3.6 percent of deaths, with youngsters being especially vulnerable.
The virus, which was once known as monkeypox, was found in 1958 in Denmark in monkeys that were maintained for scientific purposes.
This year, DR Congo has reported 500 deaths and over 16,000 cases.
Sweden announced the first confirmed Clade 1 case outside of Africa on August 15.
