The Department of Health (DOH) said it is closely monitoring the latest developments in relation to a viral disease called monkeypox.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that cases of monkeypox were detected in some parts of Africa, United States, and Canada.

“So, antayin natin ang susunod na ulat patungkol dito. Pero ako, akin ng sinabihan ang Bureau of Quarantine— yong quarantine medical officers natin na bantayan ito (So, let's wait for the other reports on this. But I already told the Bureau of Quarantine — our quarantine medical officers to monitor this),” he said during a radio interview on Friday, May 20.

Based on the website of the World Health Organization (WHO), monkeypox was "first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

"Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe," the WHO said.

Some of the symptoms of monkeypox include fever, intense headache, swelling of the lymph nodes, back pain, muscle aches, and intense asthenia or lack of energy, the WHO said.
“Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from two to four weeks. Severe cases can occur,” the WHO said.

The international organization said that this disease is "transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus."

"Monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding," the WHO said.