Davao City confirms 4 more mpox cases

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 30 May 30) — The City Health Office here reported four new mpox cases as of May 30, Friday, with all of them in “stable condition.”

Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City. MindaNews file photo by GREGORIO BUENO

The CHO earlier reported two cases on April 18; one died while the other was discharged.

In a radio interview Friday morning over the city-sponsored Davao City Disaster Radio, Sofia Zafra, CHO emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases medical coordinator, said they are actively monitoring the four new mpox cases, adding to the two cases recorded on April 18. 

Currently admitted at the Southern Philippines Medical Center, all of the four new cases do not exhibit symptoms, Zafra added.

“The patients are in stable condition and not critical, so we continue to monitor them. And of course in SPMC, they are also monitoring these patients,” Zafra said.

However, Zafra did not disclose from what areas the new cases were infected.

She said the four active mpox patients will not be isolated and their close contacts will only be “monitored,” as per the Department of Health’s memorandum.

DOH memorandum No. 2024 – 0306 or the Updated Interim Guidelines on the Prevention, Detection, and Management of Mpox dated August 26, 2024, stated that close contacts of mpox patients “shall be monitored, or should self-monitor, daily for the onset of signs or symptoms for a period of 21 days from the last contact with the suspect, probable, or confirmed case or their contaminated materials.”

When asked if face masks will be mandated following the new cases, Zafra said it is recommended because it is currently “flu season” but not necessarily for the prevention of mpox.

In the case of mpox, it’s not really needed to wear masks compared to COVID-19, which was airborne. But wearing masks should be part of minimum health protocols, especially in enclosed spaces,” Zafra said in the vernacular.

Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus transmitted through skin-to-skin contact with infected individuals, exposure to bodily fluids and respiratory droplets, and contact with contaminated materials.

It was initially detected in the 1970s but only declared as a public health disease of international concern in 2024.

Symptoms of mpox include rashes or lesions on parts of the body, lymph nodes, fever, loss of appetite, and severe fatigue. The disease is primarily transmitted through close contact.

In neighboring Davao del Sur, health authorities mandated residents to wear face masks “to control the spread of monkeypox (mpox) and other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in the province.”

Signed by Gov. Yvonne Cagas on Wednesday, Executive Order No. 20, series of 2025 required wearing of masks in public spaces such as schools, markets, public transport, churches, business establishments, healthcare facilities, and crowded outdoor areas where physical distancing cannot be maintained.

The order came following the province’s first confirmed case of mpox in Magsaysay town. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)