THE Public Health Ministry said today (August 28) that a Thai woman who had a close relationship with a foreign man was confirmed to have contracted monkeypox becoming the country’s seventh case of this disease to date, Naewna newspaper said.
Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, head of the Disease Control Department, said the unnamed 37-year-old patient lives alone in Bangkok and had close contact with three other persons before being hospitalised.
Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute conducted a confirmation test of her samples yesterday which showed that she had been infected with this disease.
A team from the ministry’s Epidemiology Division and epidemiology staff from Bamrasnaradura institute had found three persons who had been exposed to her and are searching for others who might have done so as well as disinfecting certain areas.
The new patient had no history of contact with rodents nor had she travelled overseas. However she did have sex with an African man before symptoms appeared. Three weeks prior to falling sick she had visited entertainment places popular with foreigners.
Details of her developing monkeypox are as follows:
– August 20, 2022: The patient started having low-grade fever;
– August 21: Small pustules formed around the anus;
– August 22: Similar pustules began appearing on her fingers, arms, back, genitals and started spreading to her face. The patient was admitted to Bamrasnaradura institute with tests ascertaining that she had been infected with monkeypox.
As of yesterday, there were 48,331 confirmed cases worldwide spread across 83 countries. The five countries with the most cases are the US with 17,432, Spain 6,458, Brazil 4,472, France 3,421 and Germany 3,405. There have been 15 fatalities so far.
Dr. Opas emphasised that monkeypox is not highly contagious nor severe. People are advised to avoid having close contact with those who have fever, rash, blisters and pustules on their body, wear a face mask and wash their hands often or use alcohol gel and not have sex with people they do not know well.
Those who start getting symptoms such as rash on the body, blisters, pustules, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle pain and enlarged lymph nodes should immediately go to a hospital near their home for a checkup.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Monkeypox is similar to smallpox but less severe and less infectious too. Credit: Roger Harris/Science Photo Library via Getty Images and published by Livescience.com
Front Page: Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong. Photo: Matichon
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