The country confirmed its fourth case of monkeypox on Monday in a Filipino with no documented travel history to or from any country with cases of the disease.
The Department of Health said the 25-year-old patient was confirmed positive on Aug. 19 through a PCR test. Fourteen close contacts have been identified.
“[The case] is being cared for and is admitted in an isolation facility,” the DOH said.
“All four confirmed monkeypox cases in the Philippines are unrelated to each other,” it added.
The first case has already recovered and been discharged from isolation as of August 6. The second and third cases are still in home isolation and in stable condition. No new contacts of the first three cases have been identified,” it added.
As for the fourth case, one close contact is currently taking care of the patient in the isolation facility, while six are undergoing quarantine.
Another is a healthcare worker who had complete personal protection equipment at the time of consultation and is now self-monitoring. Details of the other six are being verified.
Meanwhile, an infectious diseases expert said the country might discover more monkeypox cases in the future.
However, Dr. Edsel Salvana, a member of the Department of Health-Technical Advisory Group, allayed concerns the disease would become endemic in the country.
“We’ll probably see more cases over time. But as long as we do our job and we continue to monitor, I don’t think this disease will become endemic in the Philippines,” he said in a Laging Handa briefing. He said monkeypox is “not as contagious as COVID-19.”
Salvana said there was “some indication” of asymptomatic transmission of monkeypox.
“[But] the good thing is our protocols used for COVID, this is effective against monkeypox,” he added.
The DOH earlier said monkeypox is a virus transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal or contaminated materials.
A viral infection resembling smallpox and first detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.
The first symptoms can include a fever, headaches, sharp muscle pains, fatigue, a rash, as well as swollen and painful lymph nodes.
The World Health Organization on July 23 declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 16,000 people in 72 countries, to be a global health emergency—the highest alarm it can sound.