Vietnam's first monkeypox case is woman returning from Dubai

The woman, unnamed, displayed symptoms like fatigue, chills, muscle aches, headaches and coughing, as well as rashes on several body parts from September 18 while she was traveling in Dubai. She is being treated at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and her health is stable.

She returned to HCMC on September 22 and the next day, she went to the Tu Du, an ob-gyn hospital, for a diagnosis, where she was suspected to be harboring an infectious disease. She was then transferred to the HCMC Hospital of Dermatology and Venereology, where she was suspected to be infected with monkeypox. She was isolated here and her testing samples were sent to the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Pasteur Institute for analysis.

Her result came back positive on September 25, so she was transferred to the HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases for treatment and for the viral genome to be sequenced.

The woman is Vietnam’s first confirmed monkeypox case, according to the Ministry of Health. All of her close contacts ever since she returned to Vietnam are being monitored.

The health ministry has formed teams to fight monkeypox in several localities, while recommending monitoring measures at border gates, medical facilities and public events.

As of Monday, over 68,000 monkeypox cases have been confirmed in 106 countries and territories around the world. 25 deaths have been recorded.