Officials looking for European man linked to 2nd monkeypox case
Search is on for a European man who had reportedly engaged in physical contact with Thailand's second monkeypox patient.
The Department of Medical Sciences said on Thursday that test results showed a 47-year-old Thai man, who was admitted to Vajira Hospital in Bangkok last week, was positive for monkeypox.
Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Department of Disease Control deputy director, confirmed that the second monkeypox case had engaged in physical contact with a European man.
He added that the second monkeypox case and the European man came to know each other via social media.
"We don't know where the foreigner lives or whether he has left the country," he said.
The Public Health Ministry's disease investigation team is trying to track down the man.
He said the disease investigation team will check CCTV camera footage and cooperate with related agencies, such as Tourist Police and embassies, to find the European man.
He feared that this could be the beginning of monkeypox outbreak in Thailand, adding that the disease investigation team would also find other people who had come into contact with the patient.
Earlier on Thursday the department director-general, Opas Karnkawinpong, said they are conducting tests on 10 people who had come in contact with the second monkeypox patient.