The Department of Health (DOH) announced the first case of Monkeypox in the Philippines on Friday, July 29.
The patient is a 31-year-old Filipino who arrived from abroad on July 19, said Health Undersecretary Beverly Ho.
Based on DOH’s monitoring, the patient had prior travel to countries with documented monkeypox cases. At least 10 other individuals were traced as close contact, three of which are from the same household. All of them are currently being quarantined.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of Central and West Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions. The disease is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus.
Read on: Monkeypox not an international public health emergency: WHO
In the latest media briefing of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monkeypox, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that “at this moment the event does not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”
“While men who have sex with men have been most affected in these new outbreaks, there are also risks of severe disease for immunocompromised persons, pregnant women and children if they are infected,” said Ghebreyesus.
DOH is closely monitoring the first reported case of the virus which is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.
