Filipino tests positive for monkeypox in Singapore

The MOH said he sought medical care at Singapore General Hospital on July 24 and was admitted on the same day. (Pixabay photo)

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that a Filipino national tested positive for monkeypox in Singapore.

“There is one reported case of a Filipino male in Singapore who has been infected with monkeypox. (The Philippine Embassy in) Singapore is monitoring the case,” Ma. Teresita Daza, DFA spokesperson, said Saturday night.

Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) said the case is a 31-year-old male who had tested positive for monkeypox on July 25.

He developed a fever on July 21 and subsequently had rashes on his face and in his perianal region with further spread to other parts of his body.

The MOH said he sought medical care at Singapore General Hospital on July 24 and was admitted on the same day.

In a bulletin dated July 25, the MOH said the patient’s condition is stable. He is likewise not linked to any of the monkeypox cases earlier announced in Singapore.

Department of Health Undersecretary Beverly Ho bared during the “Laging Handa” public briefing in Malacañang on Friday the first case of monkeypox in the country — a 31-year-old Filipino who returned from an overseas trip on July 19 and who tested positive in a reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction test July 28.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae. It is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from two to four weeks.

“It is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus. It can be transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials, such as bedding,” the WHO said.