Mpox outbreaks: In an alarming development, Pakistan has detected three patients with the mpox virus linked to the deadly outbreak in Congo, according to the health department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday. The viral infection was detected in the patients on their arrival from the United Arab Emirates, the department said, shortly after a case was found in Sweden on Thursday.
The reports came days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday declared the recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant of the virus has been identified. Pakistan has had cases of mpox previously and it was not immediately clear which variant was detected in the patients.
Two of the patients had been confirmed to have mpox, said Salim Khan, the director general of health services for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A third patient's samples had been sent to the National Health Institute in the capital, Islamabad, for confirmation, he said, adding all three patients were being quarantined. A spokesperson for Pakistan's national health ministry said Pakistan has detected one suspected case of mpox.
China to screen arrivals after mpox outbreak
Meanwhile, China will monitor the movement of people and goods entering the country for mpox for the next six months, a statement from its customs administration said on Friday, after the WHO said the virus was again a global health emergency. "Personnel from countries with monkeypox outbreaks who have been in contact with monkeypox cases or display symptoms ... should take the initiative to declare themselves to Customs," it said.
The Customs Department said vehicles, containers and goods from areas with mpox cases should be sanitised. China's National Health Commission last year announced mpox would be managed as a Category B infectious disease, enabling officials to take emergency measures such as restricting gatherings, suspending work and school or sealing off areas when there is an outbreak of a disease.
First case reported in Sweden
Sweden confirmed that it has reported the first case of mpox on Thursday, marking the first case of the variant outside of Africa. According to reports, the person got infected during a stay in an area of Africa where there is presently a major outbreak of mpox Clade I. The Swedish public health agency said in a statement the patient recently sought health care in Stockholm.
"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," Health and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed told a news conference. Magnus Gisslen, a state epidemiologist with the Swedish health agency, said the person had been treated and given “rules of conduct.”
Mpox, also known as monkeypox, was first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were outbreaks of a "pox-like" disease in monkeys. Until recently, most human cases were seen in people in central and West Africa who had close contact with infected animals. In 2022, the virus was confirmed to spread via sex for the first time and triggered outbreaks in more than 70 countries across the world that had not previously reported mpox.
There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, mainly among children, in Congo since the current outbreak began in January 2023. Authorities in several countries are on alert to prevent a rapid international spread of the virus.
(with inputs from agencies)
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