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Philippines Detects First Mpox Case this Year, Yet to Determine Strain

An undated colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (pink) found within an infected cell (yellow), cultured in the laboratory, captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID/Handout via REUTERS
An undated colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (pink) found within an infected cell (yellow), cultured in the laboratory, captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID/Handout via REUTERS
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Philippines Detects First Mpox Case this Year, Yet to Determine Strain

An undated colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (pink) found within an infected cell (yellow), cultured in the laboratory, captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID/Handout via REUTERS
An undated colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (pink) found within an infected cell (yellow), cultured in the laboratory, captured at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. NIAID/Handout via REUTERS

The Philippines has detected a new case of the mpox virus in the country, the first since December last year, its health department said on Monday, adding it was awaiting test results before being able to determine the strain.
The patient was a 33-year-old Filipino male who had no travel history outside the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
"We are awaiting sequencing results and will update once available," its spokesperson Albert Domingo said when asked about the strain.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency, its highest form of alert, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that had spread to neighboring countries.
A new form of the virus has triggered global concern as it seems to spread easily through routine close contact.
A case of the new variant was confirmed on Thursday in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent. Pakistan on Friday confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus in a patient, but said they did not yet know the strain of the virus.
The new case in the Philippines is the 10th laboratory-confirmed case the health department has detected. Its first case was in July 2022.
"Symptoms started more than a week ago with fever, which was followed four days later by findings of a distinct rash on the face, back, nape, trunk, groin, as well as palms and soles," the Philippine DOH said in a statement.
The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, leads to flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. It is usually mild but can kill, with children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, all at higher risk of complications.

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3 Tourists among 4 Killed after Italian Cable Car Crashes into Ravine South of Naples

View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
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3 Tourists among 4 Killed after Italian Cable Car Crashes into Ravine South of Naples

View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
View of the Monte Faito cable car departure station in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, southern Italy, Friday, April 18, 2025, with the cabin from which nine passengers were rescued when the traction cable broke Thursday, killing four people in another cabin that fell further up the mountain. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)

Three tourists, including a British couple, were among four people who were killed when a mountain cable car plunged into a ravine south of Naples, officials confirmed Saturday.

Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement that it is "supporting the families of a British couple who have died in Italy and are in touch with the local authorities.”

On Friday, a day after the accident, a spokesperson for the mayor of Vico Equense had said that the pair were siblings, but confirmed Saturday that that was based on bad information.

An Israeli woman was the third foreign victim to be identified following Thursday's accident.

The fourth victim was the Italian driver of the cable car. A fifth tourist, said to be the brother of the Israeli victim, is in a stable but critical condition at a Naples hospital, officials said, The AP news reported.

Initial reports suggested that a traction cable may have snapped as the cable car ascended Monte Faito, in the town of Castellammare di Stabia. The cable car plunged into a ravine after stopping very close to the station at the top of the peak, at around 1,050 meters (3,400 feet).

Sixteen passengers were helped out of another cable car that was stuck mid-air near the foot of the mountain following the incident.

The accident happened just a week after the cable car, which is popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened for the season. It averages around 110,000 visitors each year.

The emergency services, including Italy’s alpine rescue, more than 50 firefighters, police and civil protection personnel, worked into the evening in severe weather conditions, with fog and strong winds making rescue operations difficult.

“The traction cable broke. The emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station," Luigi Vicinanza, the mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, said on Thursday. He added that there had been regular safety checks on the cable car line, which runs 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the town to the top of the mountain.

Local prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible manslaughter, which will involve an inspection of the cable stations, the pylons, the two cabins and the cable, officials said Friday.

The company running the service, the EAV public transport firm, said the seasonal cable car had reopened with all the required safety conditions.

“The reopening had taken place a week ago after three months of tests every day, day and night," said EAV President Umberto De Gregorio. "This is something inexplicable.”

De Gregorio said technical experts believed there was no connection between the severe weather and the cause of the crash. "There is an automatic system. When the wind exceeds a certain level, the cable car stops automatically,” he said.

The Monte Faito cable car opened in 1952. Four people died in 1960 when a pylon broke.

Italy has recorded two similar fatal accidents involving cable cars in recent years.

A cable car crash in May 2021 in northern Italy killed 14 people, including six Israelis, among them a family of four. In 1998, a low-flying US military jet cut through the cable of a ski lift in Cavalese, in the Dolomites, killing 20 people.