The health ministry of Pakistan notified on Friday that it has detected one case of the Monkeypox (mpox) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The viral infection so far has been found in three patients who returned from the United Arab Emirates, said the country’s health department as per a report by the Reuters.
Pakistan in the past has recorded cases of mpox but the recent cases have a different variant. The health authorities said that the new form of mpox the patients have, hasn’t been detected yet. The new variant reportedly, can be more easily spread via frequent close contact.
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“Once that’s done, we will be able to say what strain is this,” said Pakistan’s Health Ministry spokesman Sajid Shah.
Recently, on August 14, the World Health Organisation Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The announcement was made followed by the advice of an IHR Emergency Committee of independent experts.
What is Mpox, Should You be worried?
Monkeypox or Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease. It is caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus.
The viral illness can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals.
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The common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2-4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.
The first human cases of Mpox were reported in Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.
Recently, Professor Dimie Ogoina, Committee Chair has cautioned the world regarding the threat that Mpox poses.
“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,” said Committee Chair Professor Dimie Ogoina.
On Thursday, the first case of mpox with a new strain spread outside Africa was detected in Sweden.
Additionally, since mpox outbreak in January 2023, there have been nearly 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths as per a Reuters report. It is more prevalent among children.
Consequently, WHO along with countries and vaccine manufactures is working on potential vaccine donations. The international health organisation has allocated $1.45 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies for scaling up.
