Thai police search for monkeypox-infected Nigerian man
The patient, who entered Thailand in October 2021 with no departure record, had been sick for more than a week.
BANGKOK: Thai police and disease control authority on the southern island of Phuket are searching for a Nigerian man, who was confirmed as Thailand’s first monkeypox infection but went missing.
The 27-year-old, who was confirmed by Thailand’s disease control department as the country’s first monkeypox case on Thursday, has remained missing since Tuesday evening, according to Phuket’s provincial officials.
The patient, who entered Thailand in October 2021 with no departure record, had been sick for more than a week, developing symptoms including fever, sour throat, coughing and rashes, and sought treatment at a local hospital as an outpatient last week.
However, local public health officials could not get in touch with the patient as he turned off his cellphone. A surveillance camera at a local hotel caught the patient left the hotel Tuesday evening and since then his whereabouts was unclear, Phuket’s police officer Sermphan Sirikong told a press conference on Friday.
Police are still searching for the man, whose visa has expired, Sermphan said.
Kusak Kukiattikul, the provincial public health chief, said at the press conference that the monkeypox virus detected in the patient was the West African clade, and his condition was not severe.
Seventeen people have been considered as high-risk close contacts, with seven having tested negative, and local officials were still tracing people that might have been in contact with the patient, Kusak said.
-Xinhua
