ILOILO CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) is still investigating if the country’s fourth Monkeypox case, recorded in Iloilo, is local transmission or not.
“There’s no established source of infection for Monkeypox here,” said DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press conference at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol Wednesday, Aug. 24.
“We cannot say for certain this is a local transmission,” Vergeire added in response to a question from the Manila Bulletin.
The country’s fourth Monkeypox case, which is the first in Iloilo and Western Visayas, is a 24-year-old male working originally in Carles, Iloilo and now employed in a restaurant here.
The patient has no history of travel abroad but is said to have been in contact with a relative who came from overseas.
“There are some doubts in some responses of the patient. That’s why we are still back tracing,” Vergeire said.
The DOH-Region 6 Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU) is currently monitoring the patient’s 14 close contacts. So far, none of them have exhibited symptoms.
Vergeire visited Iloilo Provincial Capitol for the “PinasLakas,” the DOH’s campaign to strengthen Covid-19 booster vaccination in 42 towns and component city of Passi. She was joined by Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. and DOH-Region 6 Director Adriano Suba-an.