The rash showed up on his face, back, nape, trunk, groin, palms and soles. By then the fever had already been running for four days.
That is the account the Philippine Department of Health gave of a 33-year-old Filipino man, whose mpox infection it announced on a Monday. He had never traveled outside the Philippines. His symptoms began more than a week before, starting with fever, and the distinct rash followed four days later, according to the department’s statement.
“The patient did not travel abroad, that means the virus is already here in the Philippines,” said health secretary Teddy Herbosa.
It was the 10th laboratory-confirmed case since the country detected its first in July 2022, and the first reported since December of the previous year. The announcement came days after the World Health Organization issued its highest alert over the virus. Samples had not yet been sequenced, so the strain was unknown. “We are awaiting sequencing results and will update once available,” said department spokesperson Albert Domingo.
The alert behind it
The WHO had declared mpox a global public health emergency on the Wednesday of the previous week, after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to neighboring countries. Health officials are watching a new, deadlier strain of the virus, formerly called monkeypox, that has moved through several African countries.
The WHO has reported over 17,000 cases and over 500 deaths worldwide this year. More than 96 per cent of all cases and deaths have been in Congo, where a health system long strained by vast distances and poor infrastructure has struggled to contain outbreaks. Children under 15 make up more than 70 per cent of the cases and 85 per cent of the deaths there.
Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder illness. Symptoms include fever, chills and body aches. Serious cases are likely to develop characteristic lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.
Elsewhere
Sweden confirmed a case of the new variant on the Thursday, linked to the outbreak in Africa. It was the first sign of the strain spreading beyond the continent. Officials there put the risk to the general public as “very low” but expected sporadic imported cases to continue.
Pakistan has reported at least two mpox cases, one in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country. Its health ministry said no case of the new Clade 1 strain had been diagnosed so far, and it was awaiting the second patient’s results. In a statement on Monday it said, “The virus has been classified as Clade 2b.”
Congo needs three million vaccine doses and will receive its first from the United States the following week, health minister Roger Kamba said on Monday. The US and Japan have both offered to send vaccines, though he gave no further detail. India has told its airports, ports and border authorities to stay vigilant.
