ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar has reported a second case of mpox virus in the South Asian country this year, health authorities confirmed on Thursday.
People who contract mpox get flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complications from the infection.
Health officials detected the virus in a five-month-old girl at the Peshawar airport, according to Attaullah Khan, who speaks for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s adviser on health Ihtesham Ali.
“The girl landed along with her parents at the Peshawar airport from Qatar,” Khan said in a statement. “Health department has started testing the parents for the virus after the infant girl tested positive.”
Authorities last week detected the virus in a 35-year-old man during screening at the Peshawar airport, Pakistani state media reported. The patient was shifted to an isolation ward at Police Services Hospital.
Pakistan reported at least eight mpox cases in 2024 and has enforced screening protocols at all airports and border entry points, since the first case emerged in August last year.
On August 14, 2024, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the spread of a new mutated strain of mpox named clade I, which first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to several countries, leading to increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.
Pakistan has so far not reported any cases of the new mutation.
