Iloilo City and Iloilo province now have one confirmed case of Mpox, formerly known as “monkeypox”, each.
The City Health Office (CHO) announced on Wednesday, May 28, the detection of the first laboratory-confirmed Mpox case in the city.
CHO head Dr. Mary Ann Poli-Diaz, in a press conference, said that the patient is in “stable condition” and is under isolation.
The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, tested positive for Mpox through real-time polymerase chain reaction test done at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
According to Diaz, the patient has no travel history.
“We cannot say that this is a local transmission because we need to investigate the source; that’s why we are working with the surveillance,” she said.
The ICHO also logged four suspected cases of the viral disease.
Assistant City Health Officer Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna said the four are also in isolation pending their test results from RITM in Manila.
On the same day, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) also confirmed the first Mpox case in the province.
“Based on the official confirmatory test from RITM, we now have one confirmed case of monkeypox in the province,” said Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares Quiñon, PHO head.
The patient, who has no recent travel history abroad, is currently in isolation.
Quiñon said the patient’s nine close contacts are also being quarantined and monitored for symptoms.
Mpox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to a subset of the Poxviridae family of viruses called Orthopoxvirus.
The disease is transmitted by infected animals and can be passed among humans through close physical contact.
The Department of Health (DOH) said common symptoms of Mpox include a skin rash or mucosal lesions, which can last two to four.IMT
