Pakistan has recorded its first cases of MPOX, health officials confirmed today.
A mutant form of the virus that causes the rash is spreading rampantly in Africa, killing about 10 percent of those infected.
It is a descendant of the deadly mpox clade 1 strain formerly known as monkeypox and is different from the mild version that spread to more than a dozen countries, including the UK, in 2022.
But Pakistan The public health agency said it was not yet clear whether the three reported cases were of the same strain and where the virus originated.
This comes just a day after Sweden reported its first case of the deadly new form, marking The first time it has been found outside of Africa.
This map shows areas where cases of the new mpox strain have been confirmed (shaded red) and those considered to be at risk of cases emerging by UK health officials.
A mutant form of the virus that causes skin rashes is running rampant in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing up to 10 percent of those infected. It is a descendant of the deadly mpox clade 1 strain, formerly known as monkeypox, and is different from the mild version that spread to more than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, in 2022.
On Thursday he World Health Organization (The WHO) also declared the current mpox outbreak a global public health emergency for the second time in two years.
A spokesman for Pakistan’s health ministry said today: “The first case of mpox has been confirmed in Pakistan.”
Salim Khan, director general of health services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also added that two of the patients were confirmed to have MPox.
Samples from a third patient have been sent to the National Institute of Health in the capital, Islamabad, for confirmation. All three patients are in quarantine.
The latest data from the World Health Organization shows that more than 7,800 cases of mpox were recorded in the country in 2024 alone, including 384 deaths.
However, it is unclear exactly how many cases and deaths the new strain accounts for, as older versions are still circulating.
The strain currently causing alarm among health experts, called clade Ib, kills about one in 20 adults it infects, and can kill as many as one in 10 children.
Infections have also been linked to an alarming increase in miscarriages among pregnant women.
Yesterday, Olivia Wigzell, director general of Sweden’s public health agency, told a news conference that the country’s first clade 1b case was infected in a part of Africa where there was a large outbreak of the disease.
Mpox, also known as monkeypox, is transmitted between people through skin-to-skin contact.
This can occur through sexual intercourse or through simple contact such as when caring for children, although it can also spread through secondary contact such as sharing towels or bedding, for example.
It causes characteristic lumpy lesions, as well as fever, aches and fatigue.
However, in a small number of cases, it can enter the blood and lungs, as well as other parts of the body, and become potentially fatal.
A different, less severe form of MPOX, called clade II, raised alarm among health officials globally in 2022 when it began spreading rapidly in several countries, primarily through sexual contact between gay and bisexual men.
However, new infections gradually declined amid increased awareness of the disease and a rushed vaccination programme.
At the time, the UK reported nearly 4,000 cases and NHS England had inoculated more than 68,000 people against the disease with the smallpox vaccine, which works because the two viruses are closely related.
