KARACHI: An infection control alert has been issued in Pakistan’s financial hub, Karachi, following the confirmation of at least one monkeypox case in the country coupled with the unavailability of vaccine against the viral disease.
The Federal Health Ministry confirmed the case on Thursday, highlighting the need for immediate action to prevent the potential spread of the virus. The infected person’s case is currently undergoing sequencing to identify the specific variant of mpox involved. The results are awaited to determine the exact strain of the virus.
This outbreak has raised global concerns due to a new variant of the virus that appears to spread more easily through routine close contact. This new strain was recently identified in Sweden and is linked to a rising outbreak in Africa, marking the first significant spread outside the African continent.
Mpox, which is related to the eradicated smallpox virus, can be transmitted through direct contact with contaminated materials, such as bedding, clothing, and needles. The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided guidance that the virus can spread from both animals to humans and from human to human.
Health authorities are emphasizing the importance of strict hygiene practices. Dr. Saeed Khan, an infectious disease specialist from DOW University, has underscored the necessity of wearing N-95 masks to reduce transmission risks. However, he noted that the mpox vaccine, which could offer protection, is currently unavailable in the region.
Last year, Pakistan reported nine cases of mpox. One patient in Islamabad, who had been co-infected with HIV, died from the disease.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, health authorities recently revised their report, confirming one case of mpox after initially stating that three cases had been detected.
Mpox presents with initial symptoms that include fever, chills, muscle pain, swollen glands, exhaustion, headache, and muscle weakness. These symptoms are followed by a characteristic rash that evolves into raised lesions, which eventually scab over and heal over several weeks.
The disease has two main clades: the more severe clade 1, which has been endemic in the Congo Basin for decades, and the less severe clade 2, found in parts of West Africa. Recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that clade 1 outbreaks have had fatality rates of up to 10% in some instances, though recent cases have shown lower mortality. Clade 2 has a fatality rate of less than 0.2%. High-risk groups for severe infections include infants, individuals with severely compromised immune systems, and pregnant women.
The WHO reports that between January 2022 and June 2024, there have been 208 deaths and over 99,000 mpox cases reported across 116 countries. The most recent surge has been attributed to the deadlier clade 1 and its new mutated variant. In June alone, there were 934 new cases, mostly from the African Region (61%), followed by the Americas (19%) and Europe (11%).
