ISLAMABAD: A 50-year-old man has tested positive for monkeypox, taking the total number of people who have so far contracted the disease in Pakistan to five, a health official confirmed on Tuesday.
Monkeypox, or Mpox, is a zoonotic infection which can spread from animals to humans. The viral disease can also be contracted from one person to another and causes high fever and body pains.
Pakistan reported its fourth case of the virus on Sunday when a 19-year-old woman tested positive for the disease. Pakistani authorities say all Mpox patients had arrived in the country from abroad and that there is no evidence of local transmission of the disease until now.
“The patient, who arrived in Pakistan from Kuwait, has been shifted to the hospital’s isolation ward,” Dr. Hyder Wajid, a spokesperson for Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, told Arab News. “His condition is stable and there is no issue [regarding his health].”
He said authorities are tracing persons who might have come in contact with the patient, adding they would be kept in isolation as well until they test negative for the virus.
“Both patients, the man and the woman, will be discharged from the hospital after they recover from the virus,” Wajid said.
The government has put airports on high alert to ensure screening of inbound passengers and has requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide a monkeypox vaccine for frontline health care workers.
The most common symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes, followed or accompanied by the development of a rash which may last for two to three weeks, according to WHO officials.
The international health agency also declared Mpox a public health emergency of international concern in July 2022. There are currently over 87,000 confirmed cases of the disease internationally, with 119 deaths.
