The PH now has three pandemics
The country reports its first monkeypox case two months after its outbreak. (Photo: Ricoh IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. via Flickr)
The Department of Health (DOH) reported the Philippines’ first case of monkeypox (MPX) last Friday, July 29.
The case is a 31-year-old Filipino national who traveled to countries with documented cases and returned home last July 19. They were tested and confirmed positive last July 28.
Health Undersecretary Dr. Beverly Ho said “the case has been discharged well and is undergoing strict isolation and monitoring at home.”
Ten close contacts of the patient were also identified and are now being monitored. They showed no symptoms so far but must quarantine for 14 to 21 days based on guidelines, Ho said.
In Singapore, another Filipino tested positive for MPX last July 25, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and the country’s health ministry. He’s now reported to be in stable condition.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a global health emergency. Following this announcement, the DOH released a public health advisory and assured that their surveillance systems are up and running. At the airport, temperature checks are conducted while the Bureau of Quarantine distributes questionnaires to passengers from abroad.
Since June, the agency has also designated the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) as the main isolation and testing facility.
The RITM said they would only process cases who ticked off the usual signs: skin rashes, fever, intense headache, swollen lymph nodes, back pain, muscle aches, and lack of energy. Hopefully, they didn’t miss the memo that MPX could have different symptoms now, too.
The third pandemic
A viral photo of a man in the subway showing obvious symptoms is a cautionary tale of the extent of MPX stigma. (Photo: Dr. Arturo Henriques via Twitter)
One memo officials seemed to have missed the first time? Fighting stigma over the virus, especially against the LGBTQ+ community.
During last Friday’s briefing, the DOH advised the public to “minimize close sexual contact with suspected cases,” which hasn’t done the cause any favors. In a similar, now deleted tweet on the same day, TV host and news anchor Kim Atienza wrote it is “sexually transmitted, usually M to M.”
Additionally, Press Secretary of the Philippines Trixie Cruz-Angeles said “it doesn’t affect the entire population” and “not like COVID that can possibly be fatal.” Considering other populations besides men who have sex with men (MSMs) have gotten it and that people have died from it globally, that’s a pretty broad generalization.
Both the DOH and Atienza have since retracted their statements, but two months into the outbreak, stigma rooted in misinformation has already spread like a pandemic, too. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other governments haven’t been a big help in this department, either.
MPX is not a sexually transmitted disease. It’s spread through exposure to direct contact with rash, scabs, or body fluids, and respiratory droplets from an infected person. Consequently, the virus can survive up to 15 days on surfaces. It’s not airborne, as the CDC have already dismissed, but experts are still divided over this.
Changing the ending
So if people with glaring symptoms refuse to believe they are at risk of MPX solely because they are not MSMs, what can we do?
The WHO called on a coordinated international response for sharing vaccines and treatment. This includes the duty of raising awareness among healthcare providers, which falls on governments. Since we’re with the Philippine government on this one, we’d like to do our part by adding that the smallpox vaccine works for it (though a newer, MPX-specific vaccine is available too) and that the only similarity it shares with chickenpox is being named after animals. Nothing follows.
Experts say that we “should be honest but avoid overemphasizing one group's risk over another” when talking about MPX. Joaquín Carcaño, a director from the Latino Commission on AIDS, recommends phrasing like "limit physical encounters” or “limit intimate, long-session encounters.”
People have seen this film before, and they didn’t like the ending. While we have to acknowledge how serious the virus is, it can be more preventable and manageable if the people are better informed and have equal access to treatment.
We’re counting on our own systems not to mess this one up, but right now the president really has to do something about our lack of a Secretary of Health first.
