16 people in contact with Thailand’s 2nd monkeypox case test negative
Sixteen people who came into contact with Thailand’s second confirmed monkeypox patient have tested negative for the disease while another is awaiting test results, the Department of Medical Sciences said on Monday.
Department director-general Supakit Sirilak said that all 17 who were tested would be monitored by medical staff for 21 days.
He added that the department has also collected virus samples from confirmed monkeypox cases in Thailand to test the efficacy of smallpox vaccine stored by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO). It will also collect blood samples from volunteers who received smallpox vaccination between 1977 and 1979 to check whether they are protected against monkeypox.
"The experiment will be conducted on 10 people," said Supakit. He added that the results would take a while to come back.
Last Thursday (July 28), the department announced that a 47-year-old Thai man had tested positive for monkeypox and been admitted to Vajira Hospital in Bangkok, becoming Thailand's second confirmed case.
The country’s first monkeypox case, a Nigerian man, tested positive in Phuket on July 19 but then travelled to Cambodia.