Monkeypox immunity tests to begin

Studies say smallpox jabs offer defense

The particular Department of Healthcare Science is searching for volunteers who obtained the smallpox vaccine when it was nevertheless being widely administered prior to 1980 to try whether they have been still left with any residual immunity against monkeypox having successfully grown test strains from the new virus within their laboratories.

“It will be known in a week in the event that there are enough volunteers, ” Dr Supakit Sirilak, chief from the Department of Medical Sciences, said yesterday.

Dr Supakit said the particular department had cultured enough monkeypox virus cells to begin scientific trials on 3 groups of 10 participants aged 40, 50 and 60 years previous respectively.

“We will very first see if any of our own staff meet the criteria plus test their immunity level against monkeypox.

“They would likely have received it before 1980, the year that nationwide smallpox jabs ended in Thailand. We would have results within a week, ” he stated.

Several international studies have lately reported that prior smallpox vaccination may protect up to 85% of those who obtained the jabs.

The government finished its national smallpox prevention policy within 1980 after the trojan all but disappeared in the country.

“People aged 40 years and over might have been among the final group to receive the jab, ” Dr Supakit said.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, there have been four cases of monkeypox diagnosed on Thai ground, none suffering serious symptoms, compared with thirty, 000 confirmed worldwide infections and 5 deaths.

Among precautionary measures being advised with the ministry is for the public to refrain from having multiple sex partners as the disease will be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact.

Meanwhile, a Nigerian man who fled from Phuket to Phnom Penh right after being infected along with monkeypox will be charged with immigration accidents in Cambodia and later be deported, according to the Khmer Times .

Keo Vannthan, a Cambodian Immigration Department speaker, said the 27-year-old would likely serve a sentence and then become expelled from the country.

“He will face abuse for breaking migration laws, as well as laws concerning infectious condition outbreaks, ” the Khmer Times yesterday quoted the spokesman as stating.

The man was declared completely recovered from the illness on Saturday and quarantined for 7 days at the immigration workplace.

The particular Nigerian had been living in Phuket as a visa for australia overstayer. He fled Thailand to Cambodia in July after tests confirmed he previously been infected along with monkeypox. He illegally entered Cambodia within Banteay Meanchey province, which adjoins Sa Kaeo in Thailand.

The man was Thailand’s first confirmed case.