Pakistan reports first case of deadly mpox virus

The affected person came from a Gulf country, and the strain has yet to be confirmed

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A child with mpox gets treatment at a hospital in the Nyiragongo territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Health Organization declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern, sounding the alarm over its potential for further international transmission. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 4:32pm, 16 Aug 2024Updated: 5:46pm, 16 Aug 2024

Pakistan said on Friday it had confirmed a case of mpox, a day after Sweden recorded the first infection outside Africa involving a new, more dangerous strain of the virus that has killed hundreds in the DR Congo.

The mpox surge in Africa – which has also affected Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – prompted the World Health Organization on Wednesday to declare a public health emergency of international concern, the highest alarm it can sound.

Sweden’s Public Health Agency told AFP on Thursday that it had registered a case of the Clade 1b subclade – the same new strain that has surged in the DRC since September 2023, and the first such infection outside the African continent, according to the agency.

The patient was infected during a visit to “the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1”, epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen said in a statement from the agency.

04:17

WHO declares mpox a global health emergency as new form of virus emerges

The mpox strain that caused the case in Pakistan was not immediately known on Friday, the health ministry said in a statement.