The spokesperson confirmed that it was the first case of mpox — previously called monkeypox — detected in the country.
In this disease, patients commonly show symptoms such as a rash, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “mpox causes signs and symptoms which usually begin within a week but can start 1–21 days after exposure.“Symptoms typically last 2–4 weeks but may last longer in someone with a weakened immune system.”
Mpox cases have been on the rise across the world since last year, with 87,113 confirmed cases reported to the WHO between January 1, 2022 and April 24, 2023.Shah told Dawn.com that after confirming the first case in Pakistan, the National Institute of Health (NIH) had established two teams that were conducting contact tracing at Islamabad International Airport, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and other places where the patient could have possibly been a source of the disease’s transmission.He added that airports across the country had been directed to provide information about passengers exhibiting mpox symptoms.
Meanwhile, the Border and Health Services of Pakistan had been keeping an eye on every person entering the country, he said, assuring that “all necessary steps have been taken to ensure the safety and health of Pakistanis”.