Thailand’s first monkeypox patient found in Cambodia
The Nigerian man who was diagnosed with monkeypox in Thailand last week was finally tracked down and detained in Phnom Penh on Saturday night.
The 27-year-old, identified as Osmond Chihazirim Nzerem, was handed over to the Cambodian Health Ministry as the country’s first monkeypox case.
Nzerem entered Thailand in October last year on an education visa, which expired in January.
He later travelled to Phuket, where he visited a local hospital last Saturday (July 16) with small blisters on his skin. Tests confirmed he had monkeypox, but health officials were not able to track him down.
According to police reports, the patient swam across the canal below a newly built bridge linking Thailand to Cambodia in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district. He was reportedly picked up on the other side to be driven to the seaside town of Sihanoukville.
Wanveera Som, Cambodia’s assistant police commissioner, said on Sunday that Nzerem is being treated at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in the capital.
He said the patient faced charges under Cambodian law and would not be sent back to Thailand.
Health officials in the Thai border province of Sa Kaeo confirmed that international principles of disease control dictated that Nzerem should not return to Thailand.
Sa Kaeo Provincial Public Health official Prapas Pookduang said no one in Sa Kaeo was at risk of monkeypox infection as Nzerem had only passed through the province without stopping.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has urged agencies nationwide to prepare for a monkeypox outbreak in Thailand, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s announcement on Saturday.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday morning declared a global health emergency after monkeypox spread to at least 75 countries and territories.