Thailand’s sixth case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Maha Sarakham, the Department of Disease Control said on Friday.
The patient was a 21-year-old woman who worked as a masseuse and had returned from Qatar on Sunday, said Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, the department’s director-general.
She reported having had blisters in her genital area since Aug 10, while she was still in Qatar. After returning to Thailand, she travelled to her home in the northeastern province of Maha Sarakham and was admitted to Phayakkhaphum Phisai Hospital on Aug 22.
Dr Opas said the lab result on Aug 24 confirmed that the woman had monkeypox.
Four people who had been in contact with the patient are considered at high risk and another 24 as a risk group. All of them are advised to be isolated for 21 days, he added.
Monkeypox infections were first detected in early May outside the African countries where the disease has long been endemic, and there has been a surge in cases since then.
The World Health Organization has classified it as a public health emergency of international concern, alongside Covid-19.
There have been 45,355 cases and 15 deaths this year, across at least 96 countries, according to the WHO.
Based on the data it has collected, a sexual encounter was the most commonly reported type of transmission, at 82%, it said.