Monkeypox patient flees to Cambodia

Nigerian man crossed border from Sa Kaeo right after leaving Phuket, exactly where contact tracing proceeds

The symptoms on the face of the Nigerian monkeypox patient are displayed on a slide during a media briefing in Phuket on Friday.
The symptoms on the encounter of the Nigerian monkeypox patient are displayed on a slide during a media briefing in Phuket on Friday.

Authorities in Cambodia making the effort to locate a Nigerian man with monkeypox — the first case to be confirmed in Asia — who fled the country after this individual was diagnosed within Phuket, an older Public Health Ministry official said upon Saturday.

The man was thought to have crossed into the neighbouring country upon Friday after their mobile phone signal has been detected in a Thai border province, stated Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Manage.

Dr Opas did not title the province or the neighbouring country but his presentation showed the location as Social fear Kaeo, which borders Banteay Meanchey state in Cambodia.

He stated the 27-year-old Nigerian fled with help from other people, adding that police will be asked to take action against anyone who facilitated their escape.

Public health authorities have not identified the man by name out of respect for medical privacy, but it has been widely reported in both social and mainstream media.

Public Health Ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) Anutin Charnvirakul stated he had received a written report of the man leaving Thailand.

The report  put Cambodian authorities on alert .

Youk Sambath, the admin of state for that Cambodian Health Ministry, said Prime Minister Hun Sen experienced ordered authorities to step up monitoring measures at all ports associated with entry following the record of the Nigerian getting into Cambodia, the Khmer Moments reported.

Several Thai media stores reported that the man was heading to the particular resort town associated with Sihanoukville.

But Youk Sambath said the man has not been found. “So significantly we have not found any Nigerians, ” the Khmer Times   quoted her as stating .

Pichet Panapong, the particular deputy governor associated with Phuket, said most of he knew was that the man had left the island.

Mr Anutin said the Division of Disease Manage had tracked down those who had shut contact with the patient.

“As of now, new monkeypox cases have not been reported, ” he or she said. “People have no need to worry as every single member of the at-risk group is being carefully monitored by the division. ”

The man reportedly boarded Ethiopian Airlines airline flight ET0618 to Suvarnabhumi airport on April 21 with a non-immigrant visa to study language at an university in Chiang Mai till Jan 18, according to the Public Health Ministry.

Phuket officials said the person went to a private hospital on the island on July 16 per week after he created a fever, coughing, a sore throat plus runny nose. He or she also had an allergy and lesions in the genital area that will spread to other areas of his body and face.

The doctor suspected the person may have been infected along with monkeypox so samples from the patient were sent for confirmation. A PCR laboratory test by the Thai Red Cross Rising Infectious Diseases Medical Centre on Wednesday confirmed monkeypox. It was later confirmed by tests arranged from the Department of Disease Control.

Later the hospital tried to contact the man to tell him to receive treatment at the state-run Vachira Phuket Hospital, but he had turned off his mobile phone. Officials visited his apartment within Kathu district to arrange treatment but this individual was not there.

Mr Pichet said two people who had been in close contact with the Nigerian individual had their blood samples tested and the outcomes came back negative. A taxi driver who also took the contaminated man to various places in Phuket had been taken for bloodstream tests on Saturday, the deputy chief excutive added.