The Philippines now has three confirmed cases of Monkeypox after the Department of Health (DOH) reported two more individuals diagnosed with the disease on Friday.
In a press briefing, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the two new cases, aged 34 and 29, had recent travel histories to countries with confirmed cases.
The DOH official did not give any more information about the patients, including their gender.
According to Vergeire, the 34-year-old patient’s positive PCR result was released on August 18 and is undergoing home isolation, while the 29-year-old patient's result was released on August 19 and currently isolated in a health facility.
The DOH said that it has identified 17 close contacts of the third monkeypox case. Contact tracing is ongoing for the second case.
Last month, the country reported its first case of monkeypox with a 31-year-old patient who had travel history to a country with a known monkeypox case.
Monkeypox was earlier declared by the World Health Organization as a public health emergency of international concern.
It is a less severe cousin of smallpox that can be transmitted between humans through close contact with an infected individual’s body fluids, sores or contaminated items, health authorities said.
Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and rashes that can turn into lesions. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said lesions can resolve over a period of two to three weeks.
