Pakistan has heightened its state of alert on all entry points in the country after a second suspected case of mpox was identified at Islamabad Airport. The 47-year-old individual, who works as a labourer in a Gulf country, was admitted to the isolation ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) after being identified by Border Health Services (BHS).
This comes after the first case of mpox was reported in Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, involving a person who had also travelled from a Gulf country. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the recent outbreak of mpox a public health emergency of international concern due to a new variant and its spread to nearby countries.
The Health Ministry has taken swift action to ensure no suspected patient of mpox enters the country without being identified. Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Health Dr Malik Mukhtar visited the Islamabad International Airport and inspected screening arrangements to ensure compliance with international health regulations.
The mpox virus strain in the first case of the country from Mardan has been classified as Clade IIb, which is known to cause milder symptoms compared to Clade I. However, the WHO has sounded the highest level of alert over the outbreak of the disease in Africa after cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) spread to nearby countries.
There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, mainly among children, in DRC since the current outbreak of the disease in January 2023. Global health officials have confirmed an infection with the new strain of mpox in Sweden and linked it to the growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.
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