THE Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it has yet to identify the source of infection of the fourth monkeypox case in the Philippines, it being the first one with no travel history to countries with confirmed cases.
“We are still trying to back trace, verify information so that we can establish the source of infection,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said in a press conference in Pasig City.
She said the patient’s 14 identified close contacts will likely be ruled out as the source of infection.
“Among all of these close contacts, we have not seen anyone with symptoms, exposures, or travels abroad that can make us say it is a possible source of infection,” she said.
Asked if this means there may already be local transmission of monkeypox, she said, “We cannot confirm yet with certainty that this is a local case and that it was transmitted by another local case, thus constituting a local transmission.”
On Monday, the DOH reported the country’s fourth confirmed case. A 25-year-old Filipino. Unlike the first three cases, the fourth case has no documented travel history to or from any country with confirmed cases of monkeypox.
Vergeire said the DOH is also looking into the spread of the photos on social media of one of the monkeypox cases. She said she has ordered the concerned regional director to investigate as it violates the patient’s privacy and confidentiality.
“The DOH condemns in the strongest possible terms this disrespect to the person,” she also said.
Vergeire said Republic Act No. 11332, or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases Act, prohibits and penalizes the unauthorized disclosure of private and confidential information pertaining to a patient’s medical condition or treatment.
Similarly, she said, an individual’s health is considered to be sensitive personal information, which is protected by the Data Privacy Act or RA 10173.
“We are going to issue out whatever warnings we have within our authority so that it won’t be repeated,” she said.
