Source of 4th monkeypox case still unknown

MANILA, Philippines — It might take a little longer to identify the source of infection of the country’s fourth monkeypox case, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

At a press briefing, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the patient became hesitant to talk after his personal details were uploaded on social media.

“The challenge for us now is how to establish the accurate history from the patient, since the patient is now quite hesitant to give us information because of all these media reports in the past days,” Vergeire said.

She added, “That is why we are continuously coordinating with the family, so that later, we will be able to talk again to the patient and establish the source of infection.”

The health official, though, pointed out that the patient has provided the DOH a complete history of his whereabouts and what his activities were since the time that he had symptoms.

“What we just wanted is to conduct a second interview with him for us to get additional information that may lead us to the specific source of infection. This is what we are trying to do right now. He is not refusing but let us respect his request not to talk for now because of what happened these past few days,” Vergeire said.

She, however, stressed that the department will enforce the law if needed to be able to get the necessary information, since this is for the protection of many and of public health.

Vergeire also appealed to the public and the different media outlets to help preserve and respect the identity and the privacy of specific individuals afflicted with specific illnesses.

“So that we can avoid people to get hesitant and develop doubts on the government,” Vergeire added.

At the same time, Vergeire said, “There is no additional case of monkeypox in the country. Right now, we only have our fourth case that was reported last Monday. This patient is still in isolation, although we have received reports from the doctors that the person is continuously healing and his lesions are already drying up. For now, we cannot say 100 percent and with certainty that this is a local transmission because we have not established the facts yet.”

Earlier, the DOH said the online publication of the patient’s personal information is in violation of the person’s privacy.

“Pictures of the patient were posted on social media. This is a clear violation of our law on data privacy and Republic Act 11332, which prohibits and penalizes the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information pertaining to a patient’s medical condition,” Vergeire said.

The DOH detected the country’s fourth case of monkeypox in a 25-year-old Filipino who has no documented travel history to or from any country with confirmed cases of monkeypox.

It said that the patient’s 14 close contacts have not exhibited symptoms of monkeypox.