Pakistan has registered its first cases of mpox, health officials confirmed today.
A mutant form of the rash-causing virus is currently spreading rampantly in Africa, killing an estimated 10 per cent of those infected.
It is a descendent of the deadly clade 1 strain of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, and different than the mild version which spread to over dozen countries, including the UK, in 2022.
But Pakistan’s public health agency said it wasn’t yet clear if the three cases logged were the same strain and where the virus had originated from.
It comes just a day after Sweden reported its first case of the new deadly form, marking the first time it has been found outside of Africa.
This map shows areas where cases of the new mpox strain has been confirmed (shaded in red) and those where nations deemed to be at risk of cases emerging according to UK health officials
A mutant form of the rash-causing virus is spreading rampantly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing up to 10 per cent of those infected. It is a descendent of the deadly clade 1 strain of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox , and different than the mild version which spread to over dozen countries , including the UK, in 2022
On Thursday the World Health Organization (WHO) also declared the ongoing mpox outbreak a global public health emergency for the second time in two years.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Health today said: ‘The first case of mpox has been confirmed in Pakistan.’
Salim Khan, the director general of health services for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also added two of the patients were confirmed to have mpox.
A third patient’s samples have been sent to the National Health Institute in the capital, Islamabad, for confirmation. All three patients are being quarantined.
Latest World Health Organization data shows more than 99,000 mpox cases have been logged globally since January 2022.
However, it is unclear exactly how many cases, and deaths, the new strain accounts for with older versions still circulating.
The mutant form currently striking alarm among health experts, called clade Ib, kills about one in 20 adults it infects, rising to up to one in 10 children.
Infections have also been linked to an alarming rise in miscarriages among pregnant women.
Olivia Wigzell, director-general at the Swedish public health agency told a press conference the country’s first clade 1b case was infected while in a part of Africa where there was a large outbreak of the disease.
Magnus Gisslen, a state epidemiologist also added the patient had ‘received care’ but gave no further details of their condition.
The public health agency said Sweden ‘has a preparedness to diagnose, isolate and treat people with mpox safely’.
It added: ‘The fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the general population, a risk that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers very low.’
Cases of the new mpox strain are centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
More than 17,000 cases and 571 deaths have been logged in Africa this year, officials have said, a 160 percent surge compared to the same period last year.
The city of Goma in the DRC also has an international airport providing frequent direct flights to Europe — which experts have previously warned is a possible path for the virus to enter a new continent.
Mpox, also known as monkeypox, spreads between people through skin-to-skin contact.
This map shows the location of mpox cases by UK nation between January 2023 and as of the end of July this year
It is a far cry from the 2022 outbreak where thousands of cases were recorded, mostly in London
This can be through sex, or by a simple touch like when caring for children, though it can also spread by secondary contact like sharing towels or bed linen for example.
It causes characteristic lumpy lesions, as well as a fever, aches and pains and fatigue.
However, in a small number of cases, it can enter the blood and lungs, as well as other parts of the body, when it becomes life-threatening.
A different, less severe, form of mpox, called clade II, sparked alarm among health officials globally in 2022 when it began spreading rapidly across multiple countries mainly through sexual contact among gay and bisexual men.
However, new infections gradually tapered off amid boosted awareness of the disease and a hurried vaccination program.
At the time the UK reported almost 4,000 cases, with NHS England inoculating over 68,000 people against the disease with the smallpox vaccine, which works due to the two viruses being closely related.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) yesterday announced it was ‘already planning’ for UK cases.
Dr Meera Chand, deputy director at the UK health Security Agency, said the current threat to the UK by the new mpox strain is ‘currently considered low’.
But she added: ‘However, planning is underway to prepare for any cases that we might see in the UK.
‘This includes ensuring that clinicians are aware and able to recognise cases promptly, that rapid testing is available, and that protocols are developed for the safe clinical care of people who have the infection and the prevention of onward transmission.’
