- Surveillance at airports was reinforced following the first confirmed case.
- Border Health Services and provincial authorities also on high alert.
- Instructions have been issued to establish isolation rooms in hospitals.
ISLAMABAD: At least three patients have been diagnosed with the monkeypox virus in Pakistan, health authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa confirmed on Friday.
All the patients, whose cases were confirmed by the KP health department, were found to have the virus after arriving from an Arab country, the department said.
Pakistan has had Mpox cases before and it was not immediately clear which variant was detected in the patients. Agency reported.
Earlier, surveillance was stepped up at airports across Pakistan after the country confirmed its first case of monkeypox in Peshawar, KP. The news reported on Friday.
Meanwhile, Border Health Services (BHS) and provincial authorities have also been put on high alert following the detection of the case in the northwestern province of the country.
Authorities have issued instructions to set up isolation wards in designated hospitals, stock up on antiviral medicines and ensure availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers and all healthcare facilities and entry points.
Following the detection, additional samples have been collected from people who were in close contact with the patient. The Ministry of Health has also ordered intensified surveillance at all entry points to prevent more cases from entering the country.
The country on Thursday confirmed its first case of monkeypox this year after a resident of Dir, currently residing in Mardan, tested positive after returning to Pakistan from a Middle Eastern country on August 3, an official from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C) told the publication.
“Provincial health authorities are now working on contact tracing,” the official added.
The case was confirmed just one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease a global health emergency of public interest.
The case marks the 11th Mpox case in Pakistan in the past two years and the first in 2024. Last year, a patient co-infected with HIV and Mpox died at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad.
Last year, Pakistan had 10 confirmed cases of Mpox, all of them linked to travellers from the Middle East and other regions. The recurrence of cases among travellers highlights the critical need for rigorous border controls and surveillance.
During a special session of the NCOC, officials noted that around 15 African countries are currently reporting Mpox cases, with 2,030 confirmed infections.
The spread to previously unaffected regions such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda since mid-July 2024 indicates the increasing reach of the virus.
