DOH can’t say yet if 4th monkeypox case is locally transmitted or not

MANILA, Philippines —Whether or not the most recent instance of monkeypox in the country was spread locally is unknown at this time, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stated on Tuesday.

“Unang-una we cannot rule out local transmission, but we cannot confirm yet (first of all, we cannot rule out local transmission, but we cannot confirm yet),” said Vergeire, officer-in-charge of the Department of Health (DOH), during a press conference at the Rizal High School in Pasig City when asked about the potential source of the fourth case of monkeypox infection in the country.

Local transmission is when a local case was infected by another local case with no travel history abroad, she explained.

“But for now we cannot confirm yet with certainty na local case at nahawa rin sa isa pang local case kaya may (that it is a local case and was also infected by another local case so there is) local tranmsission that’s why we said we are still trying to trace back and verify information so that we can establish the source of infection,” Vergeire pointed out.

“And that is the only time that we can tell you and confirm to the public if this really is a local case or not,” she added.

DOH logo with a close-up of a hand with monkeypox symptoms.

Vergeire said the DOH has so far identified 14 close contacts of the country’s fourth monkeypox case. Among them, she noted, is the one currently taking care of the patient in isolation and six who were tagged as low-risk.

Other close contacts of the fourth monkeypox patent, on the other hand, are still being verified, according to the DOH official.

Meanwhile, the country’s first confirmed monkeypox case has already recovered and been discharged from isolation as of August 6. The second and third cases are still under home isolation, but both are in stable condition with no new close contacts identified.

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