While the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an international public health emergency for the acute rash of infectious disease M.fox (monkeypox virus), a confirmed case of M.fox has also been confirmed in the Philippines.
On the 19th of local time, the Philippine Ministry of Health issued a statement saying, “As a result of PCR (Genetic Amplification) test, a 33-year-old Filipino man was tested positive for Empox.”
The man’s symptoms began with a fever a week ago, and four days later, a distinct rash was found on his face, back, neck, body, groin, palm, and foot.
The Philippine Ministry of Health, which was briefed on the man’s infection the day before, said it had no history of overseas visits by the confirmed person and was investigating the path of the virus transmission.
This is the first case of M.Fox infection detected in the Philippines this year.
In the Philippines, there were no confirmed cases of M.Fox in the last December of last year after the first M.Fox patient came out in July 2022.
This is the third time this year that mfox cases have been discovered outside of African countries, following Sweden (the 15th) and Pakistan (the 16th).
As M.Fox spreads across the continent and around the world, global health experts have warned that the world will be on the verge of infection if countries do not stand in solidarity with the African country at the center of the M.Fox outbreak.
“Failure to respond strongly (to the public health emergency) could lead to serious consequences,” Ebere Okereke, an associate researcher at the global health program at Chatham House, a British think tank, told Gazi Ange. “More dangerous variants could spread further. If we don’t act now, not only Africa but the whole world will be at risk.”
Earlier, the WHO re-declared an emergency on the 14th after the Empox variant of Subsystem 1b spread rapidly in Africa.
At least 16 out of 55 African countries have had M.Fox, and 13 African Union (AU) member countries have reported 17,541 confirmed and suspected cases of M.Fox (517 deaths) this year.
Empox is mainly transmitted through contact with symptomatic infected patients.
Through animal-to-human, human-to-human, infected environment and human-to-human contact, you can be infected with Empox.
When infected with M.Fox, symptoms such as fever, chills, lymph node swelling, fatigue, muscle pain and back pain, headache, and respiratory tract symptoms follow one to three days later.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOUENAL
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