KUALA LUMPUR – The Philippines has recorded its first case of mpox this year, formerly monkeypox, for the year, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 10.
Its Health Department said the report for the new case, the first to be reported in 2024, was received yesterday, Bernama reported, quoting Xinhua.
“The case involves a 33-year-old male Philippine national with no travel history outside the country, but had close, intimate contact three weeks before symptom onset,” it said in a statement.
The country’s last recorded case was in December last year. The patients from the previous nine cases were isolated, treated, and have since recovered, the Health Department added.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, 88 cases of mpox have been recorded since 2022, with Jakarta seeing the most number of infections, its Health Ministry said, according to Bernama.
Acting director-general of disease prevention and control Dr Yudhi Pramono revealed that the distribution of cases includes 59 in Jakarta, 13 in West Java, nine in Banten, three each in East Java and Yogyakarta, and one in the Riau Islands.
“Out of these, 87 cases have recovered. The peak of confirmed mpox cases occurred in October 2023, as reflected in weekly trends,” he stated in a statement today.
He pointed out that the Clade IIb variant, which has a lower fatality rate and is mainly spread through sexual contact, was implicated in 54 of the cases. – August 19, 2024