Mpox in Pakistan as three patients test positive, had returned from UAE

After Sweden, Pakistan has detected three patients diagnosed with the mpox virus, a viral infection that transmits through close contact, news agency Reuters reported, citing the health department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The patients arrived in Pakistan from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the department stated.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared mpox, a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has since spread to other nations.

Pakistan has previously reported cases of mpox, though it remains unclear which variant was detected in the recent patients.

On Thursday, Sweden reported its first case of mpox virus. Health and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed stated in a press conference, “We have now also during the afternoon had confirmation that we have one case in Sweden of the more grave type of mpox, the one called Clade I.”

Mpox, which spreads through close contact, is generally mild but can lead to death in rare cases. The person suffering from the virus shows flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the skin.

The outbreak in Congo initially involved the endemic clade I strain, but a new variant, clade Ib, has emerged, spreading more easily through close contact, including sexual transmission. This variant has now spread to Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, prompting emergency action from the WHO.

“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in the eastern DRC, its spread to neighbouring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further transmission within Africa and beyond are deeply concerning,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

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