Man with no travel history is first Mpox case in Philippines since December – Firstpost

Amid global panic over the recent outbreak of monkeypox (formerly known as monkey pox), the Philippines has detected a new case of the virus in the country. The Philippine Department of Health confirmed the news on Monday, noting that this is the first case in the country since December last year.

What was disturbing was the fact that the Department of Health (DOH) mentioned that the Filipino man who was diagnosed with the virus had no history of overseas travel. The DOH mentioned that the man started showing symptoms with fever more than a week ago. Four days later, he developed a prominent rash on his face, back, neck, trunk, groin, palms, and soles of his feet.

“The case is a 33-year-old Filipino national who has never left the Philippines but had close, intimate contact three weeks before the onset of symptoms,” the Department of Health said in a statement, GMA News reported.

The virus variant has not yet been determined

The patient was taken back to a government hospital where samples were taken for testing. The virus variant has yet to be determined. “The PCR test results are positive for monkeypox virus DNA,” the health ministry said.

The case occurred in the Philippines, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease a “global public health emergency.” It is the second time in two years that the international organization has had to take such a measure.

A new form of the virus has caused concern around the world because it appears to spread easily through everyday close contact. Last week, Sweden reported the first MPOX case of the new variant outside the African continent.

After the discovery of the first case, the Stockholm-based ECDC said further imported cases into Europe were “highly likely”. “Due to the close links between Europe and Africa, we must be prepared for further imported Clade I cases,” ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner said in a statement.

The first outbreak of the new variant in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 450 people. Since then, the disease has spread to areas of Central and East Africa.

Mpox spreads through physical contact and causes a characteristic lumpy rash, fever, aches and pains. Medical professionals have always expressed concerns about this issue because the virus can be extremely deadly.

Clade 1b emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in September last year and is being touted as the “most dangerous variant yet”. It has a higher fatality rate than Clade 2 – said to be between 5 and 10 percent, compared to 0.2 percent. In Africa, it has already caused 15,000 cases this year.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, symptoms usually appear 6 to 13 days after infection and include fever and headache, skin rashes or sores, and muscle aches.

With inputs from agencies.