ILOILO City – After days of silence, the Department of Health (DOH) in Western Visayas finally confirmed the speculation circulating on social media that a resident of Iloilo contracted monkeypox – the first such case in the region and the fourth in the country.
In a statement, DOH Region 6 said the case was a 24-year-old male resident of Iloilo province working in Iloilo City.
The patient is currently in a hospital being treated in isolation.
Further, according to DOH-6, the patient had no documented travel history to or from any country with confirmed cases of monkeypox.
However, Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas who was privy to the case said the patient had a relative who had just returned home from abroad.
He also said the patient worked in a fast food chain.
According to DOH-6, 14 close contacts of the patient have been identified. Their conditions are being monitored.
The regional health office assured the public it is further strengthening its surveillance, contract tracing and referral mechanisms.
It urged the public to remain calm and be properly informed about the monkeypox disease.
“Its symptoms are mild and the disease is rarely fatal. Avoid close, sustained physical contact with suspected cases, especially those with rashes or skin lesions,” DOH-6 emphasized.
It further urged the public to continue practicing the minimum public health standards such as hand washing, wearing of facemask, cough etiquette, social distancing, and to ensure proper ventilation in enclosed spaces.
Meanwhile, DOH officer-in-charge Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire refused to call this fourth monkeypox case as a local transmission even if the patient does not have history of travel to countries with monkeypox outbreak.
“Ang local transmission, we cannot rule out but we cannot confirm yet,” Vergeire said in a press conference in Pasig City on Tuesday afternoon. “We cannot confirm yet with certainty na local case at nahawa rin sa isa pang local case kaya may local transmission.”
“Because the definition of local transmission it is when a local case, walang history of
travel abroad, ay nagkaroon ng monkeypox at nahawa siya dahil may isa pang may monkeypox locally at hindi galing abroad,” she explained.
Also, the department reminded the public to refrain from unnecessarily sharing unverified information and photos of anyone’s health situation especially on social media. It issued a separate statement on the privacy and confidentiality of patient data.
Here’s the statement in full:
Sensitive personal information, including photos, of an individual patient with unconfirmed / unspecified illness are circulating on social media, in complete disregard of the patient’s privacy and confidentiality of such data. The Department of Health condemns in the strongest possible terms this disrespect to the person which is also a violation of existing laws.
DOH reminds all concerned that Republic Act No. (RA) 11332 specifically prohibits and penalizes the unauthorized disclosure of private and confidential information pertaining to a patient’s medical condition or treatment. Further, as information about an individual’s health is considered to be sensitive personal information, anyone who did not follow proper procedures in processing the said sensitive personal information may also be violating relevant provisions of the Data Privacy Act or RA 10173. (With a report from Adrian Stewart Co/PN)
