Pandemic fears explode after man dies of lethal Monkeypox virus in jail
Monkeypox is a severe viral infection which causes painful, blister-like rash, fever and swollen lymph nodes. The disease is transferred through close contact with an infected person
Monkeypox can be fatal (stock)(Image: PA)
A prisoner has died of Monkeypox sparking fears of an outbreak of the killer disease. It comes as the World Health Organization has issued a grave warning to the United Kingdom about mpox.
The male inmate at Thon Buri Reman Prison in Thailand is believed to have contracted the disease outside the facility. The 44-year-old is also understood to have suffered multiple underlying illnesses as well as a severe immune deficiency.
Thailand’s Department of Disease Control reported on February 14 that the inmate had also been diagnosed with HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis. When he entered the prison on January 20, the prisoner had leg sores and later developed a fever and rash over his body.
He was treated urgently at the Correctional Hospital but he later died as his condition deteriorated.
Meanwhile, the WHO alert centres on the detection of a “novel recombinant virus”, a genetically complex pathogen formed by the fusion of mpox clades Ib and IIb. The biological event, where two distinct viral lineages exchange genetic material within a single host to create a new variant, has triggered an urgent directive for enhanced genomic surveillance, moving the situation beyond routine monitoring to a state of heightened alert.
And it comes as more cases were detected in the UK, afte a hybrid strain had surfaced in two geographically distinct locations – the United Kingdom and India – suggesting a wider, undetected path of transmission.
The UK case, identified in a traveller returning from the Asia Pacific region, initially appeared to be a standard infection. It was only through advanced “whole genome sequencing” that the true nature of the virus was revealed.
A spokesman said: “In India, a patient who developed symptoms in September 2025 was initially classified as infected with clade II MPXV. However, following updates to global genomic databases, the virus was reclassified as the same recombinant strain identified in the UK.
“The Indian case represents the earliest known detection of this strain. Due to the small number of cases found to date, conclusions about transmissibility or clinical characterisation of mpox due to recombinant strains would be premature, and it remains essential to maintain vigilance regarding this development.”
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