The Philippines' health minister announced on Wednesday that the recently identified mpox case in the Southeast Asian country is the mild Clade 2 variant, not the newer type rapidly spreading in Africa.
"The mpox we discovered is the original type and likely has been circulating in our community," Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa stated on ANC news channel. The Philippines confirmed its first mpox case of the year on Monday. Since July 2022, the country has recorded 10 laboratory-confirmed cases.
The patient, a 33-year-old Filipino man with no travel history outside the Philippines, is hospitalized and recovering, according to Herbosa. He also noted that all nine previously infected individuals have recovered. The World Health Organisation recently declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years due to an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to neighboring countries.
Monkeypox, the virus causing the disease, results in flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Although typically mild, it can be fatal, especially for children, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems like HIV patients.
