DOH assures Philippines 'ready' for monkeypox global emergency | ABS-CBN

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DOH assures Philippines 'ready' for monkeypox global emergency

DOH assures Philippines 'ready' for monkeypox global emergency

Raffy Cabristante,

ABS-CBN News

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WHO image by AFP/File
WHO image by AFP/File

MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) on Sunday assured the public that health authorities are ready to respond to the ongoing monkeypox outbreak while noting that the Philippines has no history of monkeypox in humans.

"The Department of Health and its partners have been preparing for the monkeypox virus ever since an uptick in cases was reported in other countries in May 2022," the DOH said in a statement.

The department made the announcement after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern, the highest alarm it sounds on emerging infectious diseases.

With the declaration, the DOH said that the WHO has issued temporary recommendations to guide the response.

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These guidelines include activation of mechanisms for readiness and response, raising awareness on the monkeypox virus transmission, and intensifying detection capacity, epidemiology, and disease surveillance, among others.

As cases of monkeypox were rising around the world last May, the DOH convened the Philippine Inter-agency Committee on Zoonosis (PhilCZ).

Members of the PhilCZ include the DOH, Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and their respective agencies.

Technical guidelines have also been drafted, approved, and circulated for the surveillance, screening, management, and infection control of monkeypox as early as May, the DOH said.

"DOH emphasizes across all its guidelines and advisories that any individual can get monkeypox," it added.

"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," DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

(Up to now, there has been no finding 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.)

“The DOH will keep the Filipino public updated with factual information,” she added.

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