US mpox patient's photos falsely linked to first known case of new strain in Asia

Pictures of a young American mpox patient have resurfaced in social media posts in Myanmar that falsely identified him as Asia's first known case of the disease caused by a new strain of the virus. The posts were shared hundreds of times after neighbouring Thailand's health authorities confirmed a 66-year-old European patient -- who travelled to the kingdom from Africa -- was infected with mpox.

"Monkey Pox (M Pox) is now found in our neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. It's getting closer to us," read a lengthy Burmese-language Facebook post on August 21, 2024.

It went on to say mpox, formerly called monkeypox, can cause painful skin lesions.

The post included three pictures of a man with rashes on his face, hands and legs. It described the man as "the patient from Thailand".

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on September 03, 2024

Mpox is transmitted to humans by infected animals and can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact. It can cause fever, muscle pains, skin lesions and in the most severe cases death (archived link).

Its resurgence and the detection in Central Africa of the new Clade 1b strain prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare its highest international alert level on August 14.

Thailand's Department of Disease Control announced on August 22 that laboratory tests found a 66-year-old European who had travelled to the kingdom from Africa was infected with Clade 1b. It did not disclose the name of the patient.

This was the first known case of the new mpox strain in Asia, AFP reported (archived link).

The pictures have also been shared alongside similar claims on Facebook here and here.

In reality, they show an mpox patient from the US state of California in 2022, not the recent case detected in Thailand. 

Mistaken identity

Reverse image searches on Google, followed by keyword searches, found the pictures were earlier published by Los Angeles radio station LAist on August 03, 2022 (archived link).

The article describes the experience of an mpox patient named Kevin Kwong who it said was 33 years old at the time.

"Lesions and debilitating pain: A California man describes his experience with monkeypox," read the article's headline.

Below is a screenshot comparison of one false post that shared the pictures (left) and the article published by LAist (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the graphic used in the false post (left) and the photos published by LAist (right)

AFP contacted Kwong who confirmed in an email he was the man in the circulating pictures.

"I identify as the person showing his hands and feet in the photos," he told AFP on September 3. "These were taken by myself in California, early July 2022, when Monkeypox was first making its way to the United States."

The 2022-23 mpox epidemic was caused by Clade 2 mpox.

Kwong said he was treated at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center.

"Many news articles documenting my experience can be found if my name is searched online," he added.

The US news organisation NPR also published an interview with Kwong about his experience with mpox on July 23, 2022 (archived link).

AFP has repeatedly debunked mpox misinformation here, here and here.