Deputy Director of HCM City's Centre for Disease Control Lê Hồng Nga. —Photo HCM City CDC

HCM CITY — From the beginning of 2023 until October 22, HCM City recorded 33 confirmed cases of mpox through PCR testing, according to the southern city's health authorities.

Deputy Director of HCM City's Centre for Disease Control Lê Hồng Nga said among them, there has been one death due to immunosuppression. The patient had a number of underlying diseases.

The remaining patients witnessed more stable progression in conditions. Eight have completed the 14-day isolation and treatment as per the health ministry's regulations, and the skin lesions on their bodies have completely healed.

Nga said the situation of the mpox outbreak in HCM City is similar to the disease situation worldwide.

All 33 cases of mpox in HCM City are male, which is roughly the same as the worldwide estimated figure of 95 per cent of patients being male.

Notably, 85 per cent of the patients with mpox are men who have sex with men (MSM). Global statistics also showed that about 50 per cent of mpox patients are also living with HIV.

Whether HIV-infected or not, everyone stands at an equal risk of contracting mpox if they have direct contact with the skin, genitalia, etc. of those who are infected with the virus, the health official have said.

She further said that there were still individuals in the community who might be carrying the disease but had not yet sought medical care, especially for self-limited diseases like mpox, which could usually go away after two or four weeks.

However, individuals living with HIV who are not properly cared for or do not properly undergo full antiretroviral therapy (ARV) or have other causes of immunosuppression, when infected with mpox, are at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms.

At the same time, the disease could be more severe in certain groups such as pregnant women, the elderly, children, and immunocompromised individuals, Nga noted.

To prevent the outbreak of the disease in the area, the city's healthcare sector had strengthened surveillance and conducted training for all clinics and hospitals in the area.

Previously, mpox was only found in Africa, but since April 2022, infections have started to emerge in Europe and the United States. In the region, countries like Việt Nam, Thailand, and China, etc. are all seeing a higher number of incidences since around July-August. Nga said that this was "unavoidable" given the current context of global trade and travel.

"When a person notices symptoms or signs of the disease in their relatives or those around them, they should encourage and advise the patients to visit healthcare facilities for examination and treatment. Individuals who know that they are infected should immediately seek medical attention and limit contact with others," the CDC official said. — VNS