The announcement came after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox as a “public health emergency of international concern,” which the organization defines as an “extraordinary event” that constitutes a “public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease” and “to potentially require a coordinated international response.”
According to the DOH, the WHO issued the following recommendations to guide the response of countries, such as the Philippines, with no history of monkeypox in humans:
• Activate multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms for readiness and response to stop human-to-human transmission.
• Avoid stigmatization and discrimination against any individual or population group that may be affected to help prevent further undetected transmission.
• Intensify epidemiology and disease surveillance.
• Intensify detection capacity by raising awareness and training health workers.
• Raise awareness about virus transmission, related prevention and protective measures, and symptoms and signs among affected communities that are currently affected as well as among other population groups that may be at risk.
• Engage key community-based groups and civil society networks to increase provision of reliable and factual information.
• Focus risk communication and community support efforts on settings and venues where close contact takes place.
• Immediately report to WHO probable and confirmed cases of monkeypox.
• Implement all actions necessary to be ready to apply or continue applying further temporary recommendations for countries with detected cases, should there be a first-time detection of one or more suspected, probable or confirmed cases of monkeypox.
On May 24, the DOH said it drafted, approved, and circulated interim technical guidelines for the implementation of monkeypox surveillance, screening, management, and infection control, including the government’s response protocols.
The agency added that virtual town halls and meetings were conducted in the same week with health care workers, its regional offices, and local health officials.
The department also mentioned that it convened on May 27 the Philippine Inter-agency Committee on Zoonosis whose members include the DOH, Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and their affiliated agencies.
Meanwhile, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine successfully optimized on June 20 its real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for detecting monkeypoxreal-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for detecting monkeypox, according to the DOH.
The agency also said it is currently working with local civil society organizations, community-based groups, social hygiene clinics, and advocates to properly inform the public about the risk of monkeypox.
To date, no case of monkeypox has been detected in the Philippines.
“Hanggang sa ngayon, wala pa rin pong nakitaan sa Pilipinas na pasok sa depenisyon ng isang suspect monkeypox case. Ang itsura ay karaniwang naipapaliwanag ng ibang mga sakit na kahawig ng monkeypox, ngunit hindi nito kapareho,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
[Translation: Up to now, there has been no case in the Philippines that fits the definition of a suspect monkeypox case. The clinical presentation is often explained by other diseases that look like monkeypox, but is not the same.]
Globally, there are over 16,800 cases reported in 74 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where smallpox was eliminated in 1968, according to the WHO.
Symptoms of monkeypox include rash with blisters, fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, muscle and back aches, and low energy.
READ: What is monkeypox and its signs and symptoms?
There are two other ongoing public health emergencies of international concern: polio, which started in 2014, and COVID-19, which began in 2020.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 24) — The government has been preparing for the monkeypox outbreak since an increase in cases was detected in numerous countries in May 2022, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Sunday.
