Pakistan Authorities Detect Monkeypox Virus Case

A doctor examines a woman infected with monkeypox in Zomea Kaka, in the Central African Republic, on Oct. 18, 2018. (Charles Bouessel/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan has detected a patient with the mpox virus, health authorities said.

The viral infection, also known as Monkeypox, is the first in Pakistan this year but the nature of the variant was yet to be determined, the department said on Friday.

The health department in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province said on Friday one mpox case had been confirmed in the area, withdrawing a previous statement that three mpox patients had been detected there this week on arrival from the United Arab Emirates.

The World Health Organization has declared a recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant of the virus was identified.

Quarantine

The Pakistan health ministry spokesperson said the sequencing of the confirmed case was underway, and that it would not be clear which variant of mpox the patient had until the process was complete.

Pakistan has had cases of mpox previously.

Authorities said they were also boosting airport surveillance and monitoring with extra health personnel.

Sweden

A case of mpox clade I has been found in Sweden, authorities said on Aug. 15.

The unidentified patient stayed in an African country where there has been an outbreak of mpox clade I, the Public Health Agency of Sweden said in a statement.

“The case is the first case caused by clade I that has been diagnosed outside the African continent,” Olivia Wigzell, director-general of the Public Health Agency of Sweden, told reporters in a briefing. “The affected person has also been infected during a stay in an area in Africa where there is a large ongoing outbreak of mpox clade I.”

Experts, including the agency, say clade I causes more severe cases than clade II.

A clade II subvariant was previously responsible for about 300 cases in Sweden.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden declined to disclose the African country to which the new patient traveled but said the person has a confirmed infection and has received care.

WHO Alert

The WHO on Wednesday sounded its highest level of alert over the outbreak in Africa after cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) spread to nearby countries.

This year, 15,664 cases of mpox, with 537 deaths, have been reported in the DRC. The WHO said the number of deaths already exceed last year’s total, which was itself a record.

In the past month, more than 100 cases of clade 1b have also been reported in four countries neighboring DRC which had not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread, and the reporting of cases in several neighboring countries is “very worrying.”

“On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” he said.

Committee Chair Dimie Ogoina said, “The current upsurge of mpox in parts of Africa, along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the monkeypox virus, is an emergency, not only for Africa, but for the entire globe.

“Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself,” she added.

Last week, Tedros triggered the process for Emergency Use Listing of mpox vaccines to accelerate vaccine access for lower-income countries.

The WHO stated that the Emergency Use Listing allows partners, including Gavi, which was co-founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and UNICEF, to procure vaccines for distribution.”

The Associated Press and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.