52 mpox cases in PH reported this year – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — As of this year, there have already been 52 detected cases of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) in the country, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said on Tuesday.

Herbosa said that there was one reported death among these 52 cases.

“Forty-seven out of the 52 are male, leaving only five females. The ages range from as young as six months to as old as 66 years. We have one case that had died,” Herbosa said in a mix of Filipino and English at a media forum in Quezon City.

READ: Mpox: What is it, how it spreads, care for patients

“As you can see, out of the 52 cases, only one has died. In fact, if I remember correctly, the cause of death wasn’t even related to mpox,” Herbosa added.

Furthermore, the Health secretary pointed out that the cases are not considered epidemiological.

“All 52 cases are not epidemiologically linked. What’s good is that whenever we identify a case, none of their contacts from our tracing efforts test positive,” Herbosa said.

In addition, he said that all cases are Clade II, which he said was a milder type of mpox and “transmitted by close and intimate, skin-to-skin contact and through objects touched by patients with active skin lesions.”

Mpox cases testing positive for HIV

Herbosa also shared that 30 percent of the 52 reported cases of mpox tested positive for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). DOH previously said there are 131,335 HIV cases nationwide as of September.

READ: HIV cases in PH may reach 215,400 before 2024 ends – DOH

“Seventy-one percent are men having sex with men and 19 percent deny sexual activity, and the WHO [World Health Organization] declares mpox as spread through close and intimate contact, not as a sexually transmitted infection,” Herbosa said.

Mpox vaccine

The health secretary then mentioned there was an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) vaccine pool for mpox.

“We were given by the Kingdom of Brunei our share for the vaccines for the mpox. It is restricted to individuals at high risk, such as those with concomitant illnesses or HIV,” he added.

Herbosa previously said that testing for mpox is free in government hospitals and also asked the PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) to create a benefit package for mpox testing.