PUBLISHED : 14 Aug 2023 at 15:22
Thailand’s first fatality related to monkeypox occurred last week, a Thai man aged 34 years who already had HIV and syphilis, according to health authorities.
Dr Tares Krassanairawiwong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said on Monday that the patient had suffered a fever, headache, itching and a rash on his body on July 3.
He sought treatment at a private hospital in Chon Buri province on July 11. Tests on samples taken from him confirmed he had monkeypox, HIV and syphilis.
The patient had later suffered a sore throat due to a fungal infection, an opportunistic infection in HIV patients, Dr Tares said. A rash spread all over his body due to monkeypox.
He was discharged from the hospital after receiving weeks of treatment there.
On Aug 9, the man suffered fatigue and breathing difficulty. Relatives took him to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi province.
By then he had a monkeypox-related rash all over his body, large areas of dead tissue on his nose and neck, infections to his limbs, lungs and brain, and severe immunodeficiency.
He received monkeypox medication and antibiotics but his condition deteriorated and the man died on the night of Aug 11.
Dr Tares said monkeypox was an emerging infectious disease in Thailand. As of Aug 8, there had been 189 cases, consisting of 161 Thais and 28 foreigners.
The disease was spreading. Most cases were among men who sex with other men, and 43% of all cases also had HIV, he said.
The disease control director-general said a common cause was a sexual liaison with a stranger who was already infected with monkeypox.
His deputy, Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, said monkeypox was spreading because people continued to indulge in risky behaviour.
Almost half of the new monkeypox cases had HIV, and they had put their lives at risk because their immune system was already weakened, which allowed opportunistic infection, he said.
There had been 152 fatalities related to monkeypox worldwide since the outbreak was first reported in May last year, Dr Sophon said.
Monkeypox is now being referred to by global health authorities as Mpox, and is reported to have initially spread from Africa.