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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National

535 monkeypox cases reported since May last year

Phuket provincial health officers disinfect a condominium unit where the country detected its first case of monkeypox in July last year. (Photo: Department of Disease Control)

A total of 535 cases of monkeypox were reported nationwide between May 2022 and October 2023, according to government figures.

Dr Taweechai Wisanuyothin, director of the Nakhon Ratchasima-based Region 9 Disease Control Office, reported the total citing figures released by the Department of Disease Control (DDC).

The cases comprised 481 Thai nationals, 50 foreigners and four others whose nationalities were not reported. One person among them died.

The majority, 313 cases, were in Bangkok, followed by 57 in Chon Buri, 30 in Nonthaburi and 26 in Phuket.

Most were male in the age group of 30-39, followed by those in the 20-29 and 40-49 age groups.

Dr Taweechai said six monkeypox cases were found in four provinces under the jurisdiction of his office: two each in Nakhon Ratchasima and Buri Ram and one each in Chaiyaphum and Surin.

Most who contracted the disease either had sexual contact with strangers of unknown health status or had had sexual contact with more than one person.

During the first stage of monkeypox spread, those at-risk were primarily males.

From August this year, 16 more cases were reported. The disease was found to be spreading to younger people, Dr Taweechai said.

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