WHO Sees The First More Lethal Clade Ib Mpox Case, In Thailand, Now...

This drumbeat of tough news is likely to continue into the middle of September, when the full awareness and vaccines campaign takes hold. The version of the Mpox virus detected in this Thai case is known as Clade Ib. Health officials are particularly concerned about it because it has a death rate of 3 percent, globally (and closer to 10 percent, inside DRC) -- much higher than the one-fifth of one percent death rate (related to the Claude II outbreak) observed in mid-2022.

Even so, I wish that people in country would move move ever more swiftly toward. . . well-vetted precautions. Here's the latest from the NYT:

. . .Clade Ib appears to have spread mainly through heterosexual sex, epidemiologists have said. Another subtype, Clade Ia, has spread through household contact and exposure to affected animals in addition to sexual contact. So far, young children have been the most vulnerable to this subtype.

Thai officials said on Wednesday that the infected person was a 66-year-old European man who worked in an African country with an ongoing outbreak. They did not specify which country. The man, who has a home in Thailand, was not reported to have severe symptoms.

According to health officials, the man flew to Thailand from Africa, transiting in the Middle East, and arrived on the evening of Aug. 14. The next morning, he started to develop a fever and found small bumps on his skin.

Dr. Thongchai Keeratihuttayakorn, general director of Thailand’s disease control department, said the Thai authorities would notify the World Health Organization. In a statement, he said that because most of those infected do not have respiratory symptoms such as coughing or nasal discharge, the chance of spread was "less than Covid-19 or influenza. . . ."

Now you know -- and that makes Sweden, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand as non-African nation outbreak geographies.

There are outbreaks in at least four African nations, now as well.

In more upbeat news, yes -- Oprah hit it out of the park last night (as a surprise Chicago guest). I think she found lots of new votes, among suburban middle aged former Trump voting whyte women, who likely won't tell their husbands, but will go vote for control over their (and their daughters') own bodies. Excellent! And. . . onward.

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