ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination on Tuesday confirmed that Pakistan has detected its first two cases of monkeypox among people who traveled to the country from abroad.
Health Ministry officials told JEE News that a person was deported from Saudi Arabia and came to Pakistan on April 17 with symptoms of monkeypox. Meanwhile, another person sitting next to him on the flight also showed symptoms of MPOX.
Samples from those people, whose identities have been withheld, were then sent to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Islamabad, and a day earlier, the facility confirmed that they were carriers of the contagious virus.
Officials added that the people are residents of Rawalpindi or Islamabad, and their relatives are now being screened and asked to remain in quarantine to ensure the virus does not spread. The authorities have also started contract tracing.
The person who was deported from Saudi Arabia has been transferred to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in the federal capital and the second person is in quarantine at his home, while the condition of both is said to be stable.
He said that airports across the country have been put on high alert after the virus was detected, while the ministry has sent samples of suspected patients to the NIH.
Mpox (monkeypox) is a viral disease caused by monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus. Two different clades exist – clade I and clade II.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the typical symptoms of monkeypox or empox are skin rashes or mucous sores that can last 2-4 weeks and are accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain. These include pain, low energy, swollen lymph. Nodes
Mpox can be transmitted through physical contact with a person who is infectious, contaminated material, or infected animals.
The disease is treated with supportive care. Vaccines and treatments developed for smallpox and approved for use in some countries may be used for MPOX in some circumstances.
Since May 2022, a global outbreak of human monkeypox infection has been reported in more than 78,000 people.
