The Department of Health (DOH) is still gathering information on how the country’s fourth monkeypox case got the disease.
“Hanggang sa ngayon, we are still trying to investigate, trying to elicit kung saan galing at ma-establish ang source of infection ng fourth case na ito (Until now, we are still trying to investigate, trying to elicit and to establish the source of infection of this fourth case). We will be informing the public as soon as we get the information,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 23.
The DOH on Monday, Aug. 22, confirmed the detection of the fourth monkeypox case in the country, involving a 25-year-old Filipino national. It noted that this patient had “no documented travel history to or from any country with documented confirmed cases of monkeypox.”
Vergeire said that they are now looking at the 14 close contacts of this monkeypox patient.
“All of these 14 close contacts of the fourth case do not have any symptoms at all. Ito ngayon ang tinitingnan natin dahil gusto natin ma establish kung ano yung source of infection (This is what we are looking at right now because we want to establish the source of infection),” she said.
Local transmission
Amid this development, the DOH cannot say yet if there is already a local transmission of monkeypox in the country.
“A local transmission, we cannot rule out but we cannot confirm yet,” she said.
Vergeire explained that a local transmission means that a local case was infected by another local case with no travel history abroad.
“For now, we cannot confirm yet with certainty na local case at nahawa din sa isang local case kaya may (that it is a local case and was also infected by another local case, so there is)
local transmission,” she said.
“That is why we said, we are still trying to backtrace, verifying information so that we can establish the source of infection. And that is the only time that we can tell you, confirm to the public if this really is a local case or not,” she added.
Vergeire, meanwhile, lamented the circulation of pictures of the fourth monkeypox on social media platforms.
She said that is a “violation, clear violation of our laws on data privacy and even for RA 1132 (Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act).”
"We have instructed already our regional director to do an investigation on this,” she said.
“Para sa kapakanan ng ating mga kababayan o indibidwal na may sakit, and of course, para sa future incidents na ganito, we are going to issue out whatever warnings we have within our authority para sa susunod, hindi na gagawin ng mga tao (For the sake of our citizens or individuals who are sick, and of course, for future incidents like this, we are going to issue out whatever warnings we have within our authority so that next time, the people will not do it),” she added.
To note, the Philippines' first monkeypox case has already recovered and been discharged from isolation last Aug. 6. On the other hand, the second and third cases are still undergoing isolation, the DOH reported recently.
The DOH said that monkeypox “spreads mostly by skin-to-skin contact with those who have rashes or open lesions. It is not like Covid-19 that spreads mostly through the air.”
“Investigation of recent Monkeypox cases in non-endemic countries indicates potential transmission through sexual contact. Monkeypox symptoms are mild, and the disease is rarely fatal,” the DOH said.