Fifth case of mpox in Pakistan, another suspected: officials

Peshawar/Karachi: The number of mpox cases in Pakistan has risen to five following confirmation of the virus in an air passenger at Peshawar while a suspected case of the deadly virus was detected in Karachi, health officials said on Saturday.

Dr Irshad Ali, Director, Public Health of the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said medical personnel at the airport detected two travellers returning from Jeddah displaying symptoms of mpox on Thursday and only one of them was confirmed to be have mpox.

The confirmed case involves a 51-year-old man from Orakzai, who is reported to be in stable condition and was transferred to Police and Services Hospital Peshawar for treatment.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and have implemented all necessary measures to control the spread,” Dr Irshad said.

Meanwhile, a 32-year-old individual was admitted to the designated hospital in Karachi following symptoms consistent with monkeypox making it a suspected case.

The patient, who recently travelled from Jeddah to Karachi, is presenting with a maculopapular rash across his body, The Express Tribune newspaper said.

“We are treating this case with the utmost seriousness and are prepared for all possible outcomes,” said a spokesperson from the health department in Karachi.

Officials said, no locally transmitted cases have been recorded thus far.

Earlier even as confusion prevailed over exact number of confirmed cases, on August 19 there was an mpox case reported from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

It was a 47-year-old resident of PoK, who had recently returned from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. He was admitted to Islamabad's Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) with mpox symptoms.

Before that, Pakistan had reported three cases of mpox -- all from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan has taken precautions to tackle the virus and put in place a strict screening system at airports after it emerged that all the patients affected by mpox reportedly returned from abroad.

Laboratories were allocated for diagnosis in all provinces and the federal capital, an official said.

The official said cases were reported from Africa and travellers from Africa, America and the Gulf countries would be monitored.

Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, can spread through close contact and the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern on August 14 after the new variant of the virus was identified.