PH boosts airport screening amid mpox threat

Passengers going in and out of the Philippines are now required to declare if they have had rashes, vesicles, or blisters in the past 30 days prior to their travel as part of the country's surveillance against mpox, the Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday. 

The DOH said that the adjustment in the Bureau of Quarantine’s (BOQ) eTravel form screening questions was made “to aid in preventing the entry of additional Mpox cases from abroad, particularly Clade Ib.”

“Should a traveler answer yes when asked if they have been sick in the past 30 days, the drop down list will now include the option ‘rashes, vesicles, or blisters.’ It is important for all travelers to be honest in answering this question,” the DOH added.

Moreover, if a traveler arriving in the Philippines was determined to be coming from a country listed by World Health Organization (WHO) as an outbreak area, has a history of exposure to an mpox case, or has any mpox signs or symptoms, the eTravel system will alert the BOQ and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The passenger will then be referred by BI to BOQ for secondary screening.

“If upon the assessment of BOQ personnel, a traveler is determined to be a suspect case, they will be cared for and properly conducted to an mpox referral hospital,” DOH added.

Clade Ib is a new strain of MPXV which is circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries.

In the Philippines, all five currently active mpox cases tested positive for clade II, which is a milder form of the mpox virus.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa, however, had said that the Philippines “will be ready should clade Ib get here.”

A total of 14 mpox cases have so far been detected in the country since July 2022. Of them, nine have long recovered since 2023, while five are active cases waiting for symptoms to resolve.

New strain

Meanwhile, the DOH reported that no cases of the widely-contagious MPXV Clade I strain has been detected in the country so far.

“Kaya sinasabing mas mabagsik dahil sa mortality rate sa Africa, sa bawat 100 tao na may Clade I, sampu ang namamatay. Pero ang mga namamatay ay karaniwan ay immunocompromised,” said Domingo.

(It is said to be more severe because of the mortality rate in Africa, for every 100 people with Clade I, ten die. But those who die are usually immunocompromised,)

“Sa atin sa Pilipinas, Clade II mas mababa mortality rate…Sa lahat ng 14 cases since 2022, walang namatay..So we can say at this point na 0% ang mortality rate ng mpox pagdating sa Pilipinas,” he added.

(In the Philippines, Clade II has a lower mortality rate... Out of all 14 cases since 2022, no one has died. So we can say at this point that the mortality rate of mpox in the Philippines is 0%.)

Common symptoms of mpox include a skin rash or mucosal lesions, which can last two to four weeks. The rashes are accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.

The DOH said that anyone can get mpox, and the virus can be transmitted to humans through close and intimate contact with someone who is infectious, through contaminated materials like used clothes or utensils, or through infected animals.

The public has been advised to use soap and water to kill the virus, and to use gloves when washing contaminated materials.

Last week, the DOH said that it already signified intent from the World Health Organization (WHO) to get access to smallpox vaccines to help protect against the mpox virus.

 --with report from Sundy Locus/ VAL, GMA Integrated News