Pakistan says mpox patient not carrying dangerous new variant

By Ismail Dilawar

Pakistan’s first mpox infection this year is an older, milder variant called clade II, according to Irshad Roghani, a public health director in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The country conducted genetic sequencing to determine the variant of the latest case after the World Health Organization last week declared a global health emergency over the spread of a mutated strain of mpox named clade I.

Pakistan started screening travelers to the country following health authorities confirming the latest infection on August 13 in a 34-year-old Pakistani male who arrived from Saudi Arabia.

Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, the prime minister’s coordinator on national health, on Saturday said scanners have been put in place at all airports and at border crossings with Afghanistan, China, India and Iran to report suspected infections as part of efforts to prevent the virus from spreading in the country.