Authorities in Pakistan confirm fourth case of mpox virus
Pakistan on Sunday reported another case of monkeypox (mpox) virus amid the confusion about the total number of cases confirmed so far in the country. The fourth case was detected in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province where authorities confirmed three previous infections of the virus.
«The medical team at Peshawar airport transferred the patient (fourth case) to the Police and Services Hospital (PSH) after detecting symptoms of the virus during the screening,» KP Health Director Dr Irshad Ali Roghani said.
Roghani said the rapid response team took samples from the patient's wound in the hospital and sent it to the laboratory which confirmed mpox in the patient, who was reported in a stable condition.
According to officials, all patients returned from abroad and so far there was no local case reported.
Apart from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, health officials on August 19 reported that a 47-year-old resident of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, was admitted in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) here due to mpox symptoms.
Dr Nasim Akhtar, the hospital's focal person, had told the media that the patient showed symptoms consistent with mpox and was placed in a special ward designated for such cases at PIMS.
However, it was not clarified if his mpox infection was confirmed.
Another patient, who was isolated in Karachi on Saturday due to symptoms of the virus, was later cleared as no infection of mpox was detected.
There is still confusion over the total number of confirmed
