Thailand has found its first confirmed case of monkeypox in a Nigerian man in Phuket, according to Disease Control Department Director-General Dr. Opart Karnkawinpong.

He said that the 27-year-old Nigerian male, who arrived from Nigeria, told Thai health officials that, about a week ago, he developed a cough, sore throat, runny nose and had rashes and blisters, which started in the genital area and spread to his face, hands and body.

Dr. Opart said that fluid specimens were collected from the man and sent to a lab at the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University for a PCR test, which indicated the presence of the monkeypox virus, adding that the test result was later confirmed by Department of Medical Sciences on Tuesday.

All information related to the case, including clinical, epidemiological and laboratorial, was compiled by health investigators for submission to a technical committee, under the National Communicable Disease Committee, which confirmed that the man is the first monkeypox case in Thailand, said Dr. Opart.

He disclosed that another 19 suspected cases have been tested, but the results were negative.

Previously, in late May, one case of monkeypox. was found that transit passenger from Europe to Australia, who spent two hours at a Bangkok airport. All the 12 contacts tested negative.

As of July 17th, 12,608 monkeypox cases have been confirmed in 66 countries, with the most in Spain, at 2,835 cases, followed by Germany at 1,859 cases, the US at 1,813 cases, the UK at 1,778 cases and France at 908 cases, said Dr. Opart.