41 close contacts of Pinoy with mpox isolated — DoH
By Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter
THE 33-YEAR-OLD Filipino who tested positive for monkeypox — the first mpox case reported by health authorities this year — visited an illegal spa and a dermatology clinic in Quezon City and had over a dozen close contacts there, according to a local official.
The 41 close contacts of the patient, who is not a resident of the country’s most populous city, were under quarantine, Quezon City Mayor Maria Josefina “Joy” Belmonte-Alimurung told a news briefing on Wednesday.
She said authorities had closed down the spa in the absence of a permit and other documents.
Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said the patient, who has no travel history outside the country, was infected with a mild Clade 2 variant and not the newer and potentially deadlier variant that is spreading rapidly in African countries.
The case was of the original variant, which “could have been circulating in our community,” he told the ABS-CBN News Channel.
Mr. Herbosa told President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. at a meeting on Wednesday that there was no need to declare a public emergency, citing the low number of cases and the low death rate, based on a statement from the presidential palace.
He also said the disease is not airborne.
“Continue surveillance especially in areas and people most vulnerable to the disease,” Mr. Marcos told Mr. Herbosa.
The latest case — the 10th overall and the first since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a “public health emergency of international concern” amid spiraling cases in Africa linked to Clade 1b variant — was reported on Sunday and was confirmed through laboratory testing.
The Department of Health (DoH) earlier said four cases were detected in 2022. Last year, three cases were logged in December and one each in July and May. All patients have recovered.
WHO Director for Europe Hans Kluge on Wednesday said mpox’s risk to the public is lower than that of the coronavirus.
Although more studies are needed on the Clade 1b variant, mpox could be reigned in, he added, based on a report by BBC News.
The WHO declared an end to the COVID-19 pandemic after three years.
The global health emergency declaration on Aug. 14 was the second in two years relating to mpox.
The first was in July 2022 amid a multi-country outbreak as the disease spread rapidly via sexual contact across countries where the virus had not been seen before, the WHO said in a statement.
The July 2022 declaration ended in May 2023 after a sustained decline in global cases.
DoH said common symptoms of mpox are skin rashes or mucosal lesions, which can last two to four weeks and are accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.
The disease can be transmitted to humans through close contact with someone who is infectious, from infected animals or from contaminated materials such as used clothes or utensils.
Caused by an orthopoxvirus, monkeypox was first detected in humans in 1970, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the WHO. The disease is considered endemic to countries in central and west Africa.
