A 38-year-old Vietnamese woman who returned to Ho Chi Minh City from Dubai earlier this week has become Vietnam’s second confirmed monkeypox patient, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health announced on Thursday morning.

The patient, from northern Vietnam’s Tuyen Quang Province, tested positive for monkeypox on a PCR test on Wednesday, just one day after returning from a trip to Dubai from September 29 to October 18.

She has been experiencing symptoms including fever, nausea, and blisters since October 11.

She and Vietnam’s first monkeypox patient, a 35-year-old woman who has already recovered from the disease, shared a room in Dubai. 

The first patient contacted the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) for support upon knowing that her friend was experiencing the same symptoms.

Thanks to her alert, HCDC and the Tan Son Nhat International Airport medical team took the 38-year-old woman into quarantine immediately upon her arrival at the airport on October 18.

She was then taken to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City for diagnosis and treatment. 

The plane that she had been on was also disinfected.

HCDC will continue to track individuals who came into direct contact with the patient in order to minimize the risk of infection.

The country’s first monkeypox patient began experiencing symptoms of the disease, including fatigue, chills, muscle aches, headaches, coughing, and a rash while in Dubai on September 18.

She was confirmed to have been infected with monkeypox after returning to Ho Chi Minh City on September 22.

She tested negative for the viral infection and was discharged from the hospital on October 14.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern over the monkeypox outbreak on July 23 as infections rose globally, with more than 73,450 cases across 92 countries and territories, including 26 deaths, as of October 17, according to Reuters.

Previously, the health ministry said people entering Vietnam from areas with monkeypox outbreaks will be monitored and suspected carriers will be quarantined.

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