PETALING JAYA: A new mpox case has been detected, making it the first this year and the 10th such case in Malaysia since last year, says the Health Ministry.
The male patient began showing symptoms of fever, sore throat and cough on Sept 11, while rashes appeared the next day.
The ministry said the man has no history of international travel within 21 days before the onset of symptoms.
“The patient is currently in isolation and stable condition,” it said in a statement.
According to the ministry, the patient’s contacts are being identified and their health status would be monitored in accordance with the standard operating procedure.All 10 cases in Malaysia are from clade II infections, said the ministry (Clade II is a milder form of the virus). It also noted that 58 suspected mpox cases had been referred to the ministry.
The first case was detected on July 26 last year with the last one, before the current case, in November.
No deaths have been reported.
On Sept 10, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that there will be no national lockdown for mpox like what was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said the government was taking every measure necessary to keep the disease out of the country and ruled out lockdowns such as the movement control orders issued during the pandemic.
Mpox can spread through close contact.
Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.
On Aug 14, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that had spread to neighbouring countries.
The outbreak in Congo began with the spread of an endemic strain known as clade I. But a new variant, clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact.
It spread from Congo to countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the action from the WHO.
The disease has since been detected in several European and Asian countries.
