Go wants strengthened efforts vs monkeypox

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go yesterday asked authorities to intensify the detection, surveillance, and containment efforts of the monkeypox virus, following the confirmation of its first case in the country.

Go, who chairs the Senate committee on health, also urged Filipinos to follow minimum health protocols and comply with the health advice of the government and medical experts.

“Let’s follow government policies. After all, these are for our benefit. We’ll all be affected. If our health care system collapses, so will the economy,” he said.

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier identified a 31-year-old Filipino who had been abroad and returned to the country on July 19 as the first case of monkeypox in the country.

The agency said it is already in talks with the US government to secure vaccines against the monkeypox virus, which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is spread through bodily fluids and respiratory droplets.

Health officials have cited the need to wash hands often and to avoid contact with those who may be infected.

They added that monkeypox is transmitted primarily through intimate skin-to-skin contact, including sexual activity.

Fever, severe headache, muscular pains, backache, enlarged lymph nodes and rashes or lesions on the skin are among the symptoms of monkeypox.