The Malaysian Ministry of Health (KKM) today announced another positive case of monkey pox (mpox) detected in Malaysia.
The patient is a local man with symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat since September 11, then a rash appeared the next day.
The patient was diagnosed with Clade II variant mpox virus making it the tenth case since cases were detected on July 26 last year, but the first for this year.
Clade II variants have a lower mortality rate risk than Clade I which has not yet been reported detected in Malaysia.
The patient had no history of overseas travel in the 21 days prior to the onset of symptoms, and is currently reported to be in a stable condition and is being quarantined.
Close contacts of patients are also identified and their health status will be monitored according to strict standard operating procedures (SOP).
The Ministry informed that of the 58 suspected mpox cases referred to the Ministry this year, only one case was confirmed positive for the Clade II variant on 16 September.
The previous 9 positive cases were detected from July 26 last year until the last one in November.
It is said that all reported cases have a history of high-risk activities and all have recovered with no deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on August 14 has declared the mpox virus as a global Public Health Emergency after a significant outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighboring countries.
The Ministry of Health is reported to have activated the Mpox Operation Room at the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Center (CPRC) to monitor the situation of the transmission of the mpox virus.
