New mpox case surfaces in Philippines with an unknown strain 

MANILA: A new monkeypox case has surfaced in the Philippines, while the country’s health authorities are trying to identify the strain of the virus by conducting patient tests.
The country's last mpox case was identified in December 2023, says the Philippines Department of Health (DOH). 
The patient, a 33-year-old Filipino male, has no recent foreign travel history. 
“We are awaiting sequencing results and will provide an update once they are available,” says DOH spokesperson Albert Domingo. 
This mpox case is the 10th laboratory-confirmed instance reported in the Philippines, where first was detected in July 2022. 
The patient began showing symptoms over a week ago, starting with fever and followed by a distinct rash on the face, back, nape, trunk, groin, as well as on the palms and soles.
Mpox has been declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), with the highest level of alert, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has
spread to neighboring countries. 
Apparently, the new variant of the virus spreads more rapidly, through routine close contact with an affected person, causing concern among health experts.  
A new case of this variant was confirmed in Sweden recently, marking the first indication of its
spread beyond Africa. 
Pakistan has also reported a patient of mpox who had recently returned from a Gulf country. The strain of the virus in the male patient could not be identified so far. 
Mpox, caused by the monkeypox virus, typically presents with flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. While the disease is generally mild, it can be severe and potentially fatal, particularly for children, pregnant women, and individuals with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV.