Four mpox cases detected in Pakistan without foreign travel — Dawn
Four new cases of mpox have been confirmed in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including in a married couple. None of the patients had a history of foreign travel, Dawn reports. Health workers fear possible local spread of the virus.
Samples from the patients, which were sent by Khyber Teaching Hospital last week, were examined by the Public Health Reference Laboratory of Khyber Medical University. The mpox test results came back positive on Saturday. One woman and three men are in home isolation.
Contact tracing
Two patients live in Nowshera, while one each lives in Peshawar and Mardan. The health department plans to trace the patients’ contacts and test their close relatives. Healthcare facilities, especially in the areas where the cases were recorded, have already received recommendations on collecting samples from people suspected of having mpox for laboratory confirmation.
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According to the health department’s surveillance system, following the latest confirmations, the number of mpox cases in the province since the beginning of the year has risen to 18. There has been one death among the patients, while 13 people have recovered. At the same time, doctors suggested that the deceased person may have had underlying health conditions. Health workers described the situation as alarming due to the likelihood of transmission within communities.
Prevention measures
Previously, mpox cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were mostly linked to international travel: infected people contracted the disease abroad before entering Pakistan. The first case in the province was recorded in 2023 in a driver who worked in Saudi Arabia and tested positive after arriving.
Specialists called for strengthening infection control, preventing the reuse of syringes, and expanding screening in the areas where new patients were identified. According to Mehran Khan, head of the dermatology department at Khyber Teaching Hospital, mpox can be transmitted through direct contact with a patient’s blood, body fluids, skin lesions or mucous membranes, as well as through contaminated objects, including bedding.
