MANILA, Philippines — Authorities are still trying to verify the source of infection of the country’s fourth monkeypox case to determine if there has been a local transmission of the virus, the Department of Health said Tuesday.
The country’s fourth case of monkeypox—a 25-year-old Filipino—has no travel history to or from a country with confirmed infections.
"We cannot rule out local transmission, but we cannot confirm yet," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer-in-charge of the DOH, said in a briefing.
Local transmission occurs when an individual is infected by a person without international travel history, the official explained.
"We are still trying to back trace, verify information so we can establish the source of infection, and that is the only time we can tell you and confirm to the public if this really is a local case or not," Vergeire said.
Fourteen close contacts of the fourth monkeypox case have been so far identified. Of those, six are undergoing quarantine and one is taking care of the patient. Authorities are still verifying the status of the other six close contacts.
The World Health Organization declared the surge in monkeypox infections outside the endemic African countries an international public health emergency on July 23.
According to the WHO, monkeypox spreads from person to person through close contact with someone who has a monkeypox rash, including through face-to-face, skin-to-skin, mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-skin contact, including sexual contact. — Gaea Katreena Cabico