Another monkeypox suspected case detected in Islamabad

A suspected case of monkeypox (mpox) has been reported at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad, hospital officials confirmed on Monday.

The patient, a 47-year-old resident of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), recently returned to Pakistan from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Nasim Akhtar, the hospital’s focal person, stated that the man exhibited symptoms consistent with monkeypox and has been admitted to a specially designated ward at PIMS for further observation and treatment.

This new suspected case follows the previous confirmation of three monkeypox infections in Pakistan, with another suspected case still awaiting confirmation. Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the first confirmed monkeypox patient in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has gone missing from his home in Mardan. The individual, who had also returned from Saudi Arabia, was diagnosed with monkeypox in Peshawar. However, when a medical team visited his residence to provide health guidelines, they found the house locked. Further investigation by the District Health Officer (DHO) in the patient’s native area in Dir revealed that he was not present there either.

In related global developments, health officials on Thursday confirmed an infection with a new strain of the mpox virus in Sweden, which has been linked to a growing outbreak in Africa. This marks the first instance of the strain’s spread outside the African continent. The World Health Organization (WHO) had already issued its highest level of alert on Wednesday due to the escalating outbreak in Africa, particularly after cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo began spreading to neighboring countries.

Since the start of the current outbreak in January 2023, there have been 27,000 reported cases and over 1,100 deaths, primarily among children, in Congo. The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, typically presents with flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. While generally mild, monkeypox can be fatal, especially for children, pregnant women, and individuals with weakened immune systems, including those with HIV.