Thailand confirms its mpox case is clade 1b strain, first in the country

Clade 1b has triggered global concern due to the ease with which it spreads.

An mpox case reported in Thailand this week has been confirmed as being the clade 1b strain of the virus, the first in the country, a disease control official said on Thursday,

"This man is likely infected from an endemic country," Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, told Reuters, adding no other local infections had been detected through contact tracing.

Thailand on Wednesday said the case was a 66-year-old European man who had arrived from an African country where the disease was spreading. Clade 1b has triggered global concern due to the ease with which it spreads.