The city government of Davao is stepping up preventive and safety measures against the dreaded Monkeypox.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), Monkeypox is caused by a different microorganism that is different from Covid-19. It spreads mostly through intimate sexual contact with those who have rashes or open lesions. It is not like COVID-19 which spreads mostly through the air.
Monkeypox symptoms are mild, and the disease is rarely fatal.
“For this Monkeypox, we really have to heighten and tan-awon ang tanan na angles because Covid-19 has been a very good teacher, specially sa strategies nato not just for health, since this is a worldwide outbreak and health emergency dako ni siya ug chance na mu-escalate pa,” said Dr. Kristy Jane Dinampo-Dayanan, Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (EREID) of the City Epidemiology Surveillance and Disaster Response Unit (CESDRU).
Dayanan presented measures against Monkeypox at the 20th City Council on Tuesday.
For prevention and control, the city government of Davao has been coordinating with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ) on the list of international travel passengers, most specifically, those coming from endemic countries with cases of Monkeypox.
The city has also designated the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) as the primary facility for isolation of Monkeypox cases needing hospitalization as well as designated BSP Camp in Malagos as the isolation facility for mild cases.
The isolation, treatment, quarantine, and reintegration will follow the national guidelines such as isolation of at least 21 days for the suspect and confirmed cases and quarantine for close contacts.
For contingency plan, isolate suspect cases with symptoms of Monkeypox, rule-out other diseases and test for Monkeypox, treat symptoms and isolate for at least 21 days, and advise households and establishments on the Minimum Public Health Standards (not only for Covid-19 but also for Monkeypox).
The city government of Davao has also intensified an information drive regarding Monkeypox to the District Health Offices, barangay health workers (BHWs), and barangay health emergency response teams (BHERTs).
Dayanan said it is also one of the plans to capacitate barangay tanods and the Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) through training.
“One of our plans also is to capacitate the barangay levels in coordination with the CDRRMO katong ilahang mga barangay tanods, Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (BDRRMC). Nagpabuhat pako ug activity plan, pre-approved na ni CDRRMO chief Fred Baluran for the trainings,” she added.
DOH has detected the first confirmed case of Monkeypox in the country. The case is a 31-year-old Filipino national who arrived from abroad last July 19, 2022. The case had prior travel to countries with documented Monkeypox cases. The case was tested and confirmed positive for Monkeypox via Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction or RT-PCR, done at the DOH Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on July 28, 2022.
The case has been discharged well, and is undergoing strict isolation and monitoring at home.