HCMC confirms 5th monkeypox case

The man came to have his health checked at the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases on Monday after developing suspected symptoms and the test result arrived later confirmed him as positive for monkeypox.

Health authorities said Wednesday they are still tracing his source of transmission.

The city’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) said it is looking into the patient’s travel history and making a list of people who had close contact with him within 21 days before the onset of illness.

Currently, he is isolated for treatment and his health is stable.

His close contacts are also in normal health and have not reported any signs of illness.

These people must self-monitor their health at home for 21 days and notify the health authorities if they have any symptoms of the disease.

Vietnam's first two cases of monkeypox were confirmed in October 2022, but they contracted the virus abroad after returning from Dubai, and were immediately quarantined upon return to Vietnam.

The third patient, a 25-year-old resident of Dong Nai Province, was recorded last month. He currently lives in HCMC that borders Dong Nai.

Sequencing of the virus gene taken from him recorded a virus strain with a different genotype than the first two imported cases.

The source of the infection for the third case is still unknown, according to the Dong Nai CDC. He started developing symptoms on September 17 and later transmitted the disease to his girlfriend, who lives in Binh Duong Province, which borders both Dong Nai and HCMC.

The nation's fifth case was a 34-year-old man in HCMC. He was confirmed last Sunday after having his health checked two days earlier. His source of transmission also remains unknown.

Health experts said domestic monkeypox cases prove that the disease has been circulating in the community, silently spreading through generations.

Waves of monkeypox infections began in May 2022, appearing in countries which never saw the virus before, like the U.S., the U.K., Sweden and Belgium. So far, over 90,000 infected cases have been confirmed. Death rates can be as high as 11%. The World Health Organization (WHO) on July 23, 2022 declared a global health emergency over monkeypox outbreak as infections rose globally.

The number of new cases has increased sharply in Thailand and China recently.

Symptoms of the disease include rashes, blister, fever, aches and fatigue. The incubation period is between 5-21 days.

Vietnam currently has no vaccine or cure for monkeypox.