The Department of Disease Control reported the country’s fourth monkeypox case, a 22-year-old woman in close contact with foreigners.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the department, said the Thai woman had visited weekly entertainment places in Bangkok’s areas frequented by foreigners and also had close contact with foreign men.
She had a fever on July 29 but continued to visit entertainment places with Thai and foreign friends. On July 30 she had blisters on her limbs and they expanded all over her body including her sex organ. On Aug 3 she went to a hospital in Samut Prakan province. The Department of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University confirmed she had monkeypox on the following day. She was then admitted to Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute for treatment.
Dr Opas said disease control officials in Chon Buri and Bangkok were searching for two people at high risk – the patient’s roommate and the foreign man. He stressed that monkeypox was not easily transmissible and infection resulted only from very close contact.
Risk groups of people should refrain from close contact or intercourse with strangers to reduce the risk of monkeypox infection, the disease control chief said.
As of Aug 4, there were 26,208 monkeypox cases in 83 countries. (TNA)
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