PESHAWAR: Pakistan has reported two new mpox cases in the northwestern city of Peshawar, of which one is the South Asian nation’s first locally transmitted case, a health official said on Monday.

Pakistan reported eight cases last year and three this year of mpox, which causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk of complications from the infection.

Mpox can spread through close contact with an infected person such as skin-to-skin touching or cuts, sexual activity, mouth-to-mouth contact, or breathing in infectious respiratory particles.

The health department for Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said two new cases had been reported in a couple.

“It makes two (cases) but the wife is locally transmitted, and the husband has a travel history from a Gulf country,” health department public relation officer Ataullah Khan told Arab News on Monday. 

KP Health Adviser Ihtesham Ali said in a statement on Sunday this was the first locally transmitted mpox case as all previously reported cases were linked to international travel.

KP Public Health Director Dr. Fazal Majeed said in the statement the husband had showed no symptoms upon his arrival in Pakistan but developed them by Feb. 6 and chose to stay home for nearly two weeks instead of seeking medical treatment.

The woman was hospitalized on Feb. 18 after experiencing fever, body aches and rashes on her body and inside her mouth, he said, adding that the mpox virus was confirmed on Feb. 21.

A team was formed to screen all the family members and necessary preventive measures were implemented including home isolation for the couple.

Pakistan reported its first mpox case of 2025 in Peshawar in January. 

Last year, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the spread of a new, more dangerous, mutated strain of mpox, named clade I. The strain first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to several countries, prompting increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.

Pakistan has so far not reported any cases of the new mutation.