MANILA, Aug. 26: The Philippines has detected two additional new cases of monkeypox (mpox), bringing the number of active mpox cases in the country to three, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday. DOH spokesperson Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said the new cases include a 37-year-old male and a 32-year-old male from Metro Manila.

The 37-year-old is currently confined at a hospital, while the 32-year-old is staying at home waiting for a confirmatory test result of a skin sample. "Both have MPXV Clade II, which is the milder form of the mpox virus," Domingo said. Domingo said the DOH cannot yet determine any epidemiologic linkages of the two new cases to the first active case of 2024, a 33-year-old male detected on Monday last week.

With the detection of new mpox cases, the Philippines has now tallied 12 cases since July 2022. "Nine cases have long recovered since 2023. Three are active cases waiting for symptoms to resolve," Domingo said. "We continue to see local transmission of mpox clade II here in the Philippines, particularly in Metro Manila," Philippine Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said. Mpox can be transmitted through close and intimate contact with the infected.

The common symptoms of mpox are a rash, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes. On Aug. 14, the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak "a public health emergency of international concern." Enditem