Pakistan reports three mpox cases; to step up screening

AT LEAST three patients with mpox virus have been found so far in Pakistan, it emerged on Friday as the government decided to strengthen the screening system at the airports.

The mpox detection in Pakistan is the first in Asia and it might be more easily transmitted.

The World Health Organisation has declared the spread of mpox a global health emergency.

All three patients belong to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest region bordering Afghanistan.

Salim Khan, the director general of health services for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that two patients were detected on their arrival from the United Arab Emirates, while a third patient's samples had been sent to the National Health Institute in Islamabad for confirmation.

According to the spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Health, the last patient in whom this virus was found belongs to the Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It is not yet clear which strain of mpox the said patient contracted and whether it is the same variant that was first confirmed outside of Africa in Sweden.

“Contact tracing of the affected person has been started and samples of more people are being obtained,” the spokesman said.

Officials said that all three patients were being quarantined and their contact tracing was going on.

Pakistan's Ministry of Health also issued an advisory on the disease on Thursday, which states that "the screening system at airports and entry points is being further strengthened."

Prime minister's Coordinator for Health Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath says that federal hospitals have been instructed to take precautionary measures and the Ministry of Health and Border Health Services are "alert to deal with any kind of situation."

The WHO declared the outbreak of mpox in parts of Africa as a cause of international concern and a threat to public health.

The highly contagious disease, formerly known as 'monkeypox', killed at least 450 people in the Republic of Congo.

It is caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same group of viruses as smallpox but is less harmful.

The virus was originally transmitted from animals to humans, but now it is also transmitted from humans to humans.

The mpox virus causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms. It is usually mild but can kill. (PTI)