Thailand says Mpox case recorded in traveller from Africa

Thailand has detected an Mpox case in a European man who arrived from Africa last week and is awaiting test results to determine the strain, a disease control official said on Wednesday.

Thai authorities were treating the case as if it were the Clade 1 form of mpox, as the person, a 66-year-old European man with residency in Thailand had arrived on August 14 from an African country where it was spreading, Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, told Reuters.

"After he arrives from the flight there is very little time frame where he comes into contact with others," Thongchai said. "He arrives around 6 pm and on the next day, August 15, he went to see the doctor at the hospital."

Thongchai said the man has undergone a test to determine whether the case was a Clade 1 variant, with the result expected by Friday. Authorities are also monitoring 43 people in the country who may come into contact with the patient, he said.

The director-general did not name the African country the man had been in. He said the man had transited in a Middle Eastern country, which he also did not name, before flying on to Thailand.

Thailand has detected 800 cases of Mpox Clade 2 since 2022, but so far not detected a case of the Clade 1 or Clade 1b variants.

The United Nation's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) appealed on Wednesday for $18.5 million in assistance to provide healthcare services to people impacted by the Mpox outbreak in East and Southern Africa, according to a statement.

"The spread of Mpox across East, Horn, and Southern Africa is a grave concern, especially for the vulnerable migrant, highly mobile populations and displaced communities often overlooked in such crises," said IOM Director General Amy Pope.

"We must act swiftly to protect those at the highest risk and to mitigate the impact of this outbreak on the region," Pope said in the statement.