- Mpox vaccine unavailable, infection alert issued to Karachi hospitals
MARDAN/ KARACHI: The first mpox patient in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa went missing from his home in Mardan while the Sindh Health Department issued an infection control alert to prevent the infection’s spread in private and government hospitals of Karachi.
According to the health department, the individual, who had returned from Saudi Arabia, was diagnosed with carrying mpox virus in Peshawar.
However, when a medical team visited the patient’s residence to provide guidelines, the house was found locked.
Further inquiry with the District Health Officer (DHO) of the patient’s native area in Dir revealed that the patient was not present there either.
The health ministry and relevant authorities are now intensifying their investigation and response efforts.
The World Health Organization has declared recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant of the virus has been identified.
Pakistan has had cases of mpox, also called monkeypox, previously. It was not immediately clear which variant was detected in the patients.
Global health officials on Thursday confirmed an infection with a new strain of the mpox virus in Sweden and linked it to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent a day after the World Health Organization declared the disease a global public health emergency.
The WHO on Wednesday declared the outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern, its highest level of alert, after cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to nearby countries.
There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, mainly among children, in Congo since the current outbreak began in January 2023.
The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever and can make some people very ill, the WHO website says.
Sindh health department issues infection control alert
The Sindh health department has issued an infection control alert to prevent mpox in private and government hospitals of Karachi and initiated screening of passengers at the Jinnah International Airport, besides releasing an advisory for healthcare institutions in the province.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency related to mpox—an infection that spreads from animals to humans.
Medical experts said that mpox infection can spread from one person to another person. Hand hygiene, sanitizer, and N95 masks are necessary to prevent infection.
It has also been stated by the medical experts that fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, itching, and swelling of glands are symptoms of mpox. The PCR test is necessary to diagnose mpox.
In this regard, infectious diseases expert Prof Saeed of Defence Acquisition University (DAU) said that the mpox vaccine is currently not available, but the smallpox vaccine provides some degree of protection against mpox.
On the other hand, the Sindh Health Department DG, accompanied by airport officials and director-health services, visited the airport to evaluate the screening protocols implemented for mpox.
The officials were briefed on the screening processes being implemented for the passengers arriving in Pakistan via international flights.
They examined the isolation room set up by the Border Health Services for the travellers showing potential symptoms.
