Thailand has identified a new case of Mpox in a European male traveler who recently arrived from Africa. Health authorities are currently conducting tests to ascertain the specific strain of the virus, as reported by a disease control official on Wednesday.
Thailand reported the suspected first case of the new more dangerous strain of Mpox, as News agency AFP.
Thailand officials are handling the situation as if it were the Clade 1 variant of Mpox, given that the man arrived on August 14 from an African country where the virus was circulating, the director-general of the disease control department Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, told news agency Reuters.
The name of the specific African country was not disclosed by the director-general.
Public health authorities combatting a deadly Mpox outbreak in Africa are facing challenges in preventing errors that led to fatalities during the Covid-19 pandemic, beginning with the delayed procurement of vaccines, as per a report by Bloomberg.
In the week since the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the highly deadly disease as a global public health emergency, discussions are ongoing regarding the delivery of vaccines to African nations. The anticipated arrival of these vaccinations is scheduled for the upcoming week.
Plans are actively being developed to guarantee the successful administration of the vaccines.
Jean Kaseya, the director general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasised the importance of establishing robust supply chain management capable of handling the upcoming vaccine shipments.
Mpox has been present on the continent since the 1970s, attracting minimal international focus. Despite being the sole region where the disease is native, Africa did not receive Mpox vaccines in 2022 as the contagious disease spread worldwide.
