A Thai woman who returned from Dubai on Sunday (August 14) has become the fifth confirmed case of monkeypox in Thailand, the head of the Department of Disease Control (DCD) said on Monday.
Dr Opas Karnkawanpong, chief executive of the DCD, said the 25-year-old woman was infected in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and showed symptoms before boarding a flight to Thailand, which facilitated the detection of its state.
Mr Opas said disease surveillance officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport spotted the apparently ill woman and questioned her; they noticed his skin blisters and checked his background.
According to Mr. Opas, the woman cooperated fully with the authorities and was taken to hospital.
A lab test later confirmed that she had been infected with monkeypox.
“In this case, the patient was infected from abroad, as she showed symptoms before returning to Thailand,” Mr Opas said.
He added that since the woman had probably developed the symptoms abroad, there was no risk that local people had been in close contact with her, except for two foreigners who were sitting next to her. her on the flight.
Opas added that statistics from other countries show that passengers seated next to infected passengers did not contract the disease, as monkeypox does not spread easily.
The Ministry of Public Health will endeavor to locate the two foreign passengers to screen them as part of comprehensive preventive measures, Opas added.
He added that the monkeypox virus was not airborne and only spread through physical or sexual contact and that so far none of the people in close contact with the four previous patients had been infected.
Mr Opas said the Ministry of Public Health had notified Dubai of the case, as required by World Health Organization guidelines.
Source : The Nation Thailand
