MANILA, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) has detected 52 mpox cases this year, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said Tuesday.

Herbosa said the DOH tallied only one death from the highly infectious disease.

"Forty-seven out of the 52 are male, leaving only five females," he told a press conference, adding that the ages range from as young as six months to as old as 66 years.

"All 52 cases are not epidemiologically linked," Herbosa said. "What's good is that whenever we identify a case, none of their contacts from our tracing efforts test positive."

On Aug. 14, the World Health Organization declared mpox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern following the surge of cases in several parts of Africa. Enditem

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