Ten suspected monkeypox cases do not have the infectious disease, but were all found to be infected with either herpes simplex or unspecified skin infections, said Head of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) Opart Karnkawinpong today (Thursday).
He said that fluid specimens taken from the ten suspected monkeypox cases, all of them foreigners with six of them linked to Thai boxing training camps in Phuket and Krabi provinces, were sent for lab tests, which confirmed they do not have monkeypox.
Dr. Opart said, however, that traces of herpes simplex type 1 were found in the six who used to train at Thai boxing training camps in Phuket and Krabi and the remaining four were found to be afflicted with various skin diseases.
Thailand has so far reported only one case of monkeypox arriving from abroad, in a transit passenger flying from Europe to Australia in late May. No known contacts of the passenger onboard and at the airport have been found with the disease, nor have there been any local transmissions.
Meanwhile, Head of the DDC’s Epidemiology Division Dr. Chakkarat Pittayawonganon said that a private hospital in Samut Prakan had admitted a 21-year-old Australian patient on in early June, after he developed a fever, cough, sore throat and blisters on his face, hands and neck.
Lab tests have, however, cleared him of monkey pox infection, he said, adding that the patient also used to train at a Thai boxing camp, this one in Pathum Thani province.
He assured that monkeypox is not as easily transmissible as COVID-19, unless someone is in close contact with an infected person who has already developed symptoms.
There have been 3,157 confirmed cases of monkeypox in 45 countries reported worldwide since May 7th.
