Thailand has confirmed its first case of the mpox clade 1b strain, marking the second confirmed detection of this variant outside Africa.
The virus was discovered in a 66-year-old European man who had arrived in Thailand from an unspecified African country experiencing an mpox outbreak. Health authorities believe he contracted the virus prior to his arrival in Thailand.
“The test results confirm that he is infected with the clade 1b strain of mpox, which is the first case diagnosed in Thailand, but this man is likely infected from an endemic country,” said Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control. He added that no other local infections had been detected through contact tracing.
Clade 1b has triggered global concern due to its ease of transmission through routine close contact. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Europe, noted on August 20 that individuals in the acute phase of mpox infection, especially those with blisters in the mouth, may transmit the virus to close contacts via droplets in settings such as homes or hospitals.
Last week, a case of the clade 1b variant was confirmed in Sweden, linked to a growing outbreak in Africa—the first sign of its spread outside the continent.
Since 2022, Thailand has detected 800 cases of mpox clade 2 but had not previously identified any cases of the clade 1 or clade 1b variants.
The WHO declared the recent outbreak of the disease a public health emergency of international concern following the identification of the new variant.
Children and vulnerable communities are particularly affected by the expanding mpox outbreak in Eastern and Southern Africa. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), more than 200 confirmed cases have been detected across Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa.
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Thailand confirms mpox case is clade 1b, second outside Africa
cgtn.com
