In a concerning development, another case of monkeypox has come to light in Pakistan, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to five, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Monday.
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) experts confirmed that a 50-year-old man who came to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia recently is infected with monkeypox. The patient has been under treatment at PIMS Hospital Islamabad. The victim is a resident of Faisalabad and serving in the Kuwait Army. The affected person came to Pakistan on return from Umrah, where the monkeypox was confirmed.
The officials said that five cases of monkeypox have been reported in Pakistan so far.
Four people infected with monkeypox were already confirmed at the Infectious Diseases Department of PIMS Hospital.
Pakistan has detected the infection of monkeypox in people who traveled to the country from abroad.
Mpox (monkeypox) is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus. Two different clades exist — Clade I and Clade II.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the common symptoms of monkeypox or mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2–4 weeks and are accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, swollen lymph nodes.
Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals.
The disease is treated with supportive care. Vaccines and therapeutics developed for smallpox and approved for use in some countries can be used for mpox in some circumstances.
Since May 2022, a global outbreak of human monkeypox infections has been reported in over 78,000 people.