MANILA, Philippines — There are no new cases of monkeypox in the Philippines despite alarm from an international health organization, the Department of Health said.
The report comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox as a public health emergency and an international concern.
This is the second time the WHO has raised the alarm for monkeypox.
“We have recorded a total of nine mpox cases so far, with no new cases added. The last case we detected was in December 2023,” DOH Spokesperson Albert Domingo said in mixed English and Filipino in a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing.
The first mpox case in the country was detected in July 2022, and the last three cases were reported in December of the same year.
All of the nine Filipino patients have since recovered, he said.
Cases of mpox have risen in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to neighboring African countries.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention also declared a public health emergency just a day before the WHO declared monkeypox a public health emergency and an international concern due to a 160 percent increase in mpox cases on the continent since 2023.
The Bureau of Quarantine is on alert but has not added any new surveillance procedures, he said.
“It’s better to conduct interviews with travelers coming from Africa and those heading to Africa, and we need to make sure we inform them,” Domingo said.
Mpox is caused by the monkeypox virus and spreads through coughing, sneezing, touching contaminated objects, or direct skin contact with blisters and scabs.
Humans can also spread the virus through sexual contact, kissing, cuddling, and holding hands, and it can also be transmitted from animals to humans through bites, scratches, or contact with infected animal fluids or meat.
Some of the symptoms of monkeypox include skin rashes or lesions along with fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes.
The skin rashes when a person has mpox may take at least two to four weeks before they disappear.
Treatment for mpox focuses on relieving symptoms, and vaccination is used for prevention. While some countries have made the vaccine available for mpox, it is not yet available in the Philippines.
