Pakistan reports first Mpox case as fears of global spread grow

Pakistan announced on Friday that it had confirmed a case of Mpox, a day after Sweden recorded the first infection outside Africa with a new, more dangerous variant of the virus that has already claimed hundreds of lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The rise in MPOX cases in Africa – which also affects Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday to declare an international health emergency, the highest level of alert it can issue.

Sweden’s health authority announced AFP on Thursday that a case of the Clade 1b subgroup had been registered – the same new variant that has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo since September 2023 and, according to the agency, the first such infection outside the African continent.

The patient became 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.

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

“The person concerned comes from a Gulf state,” the statement said.

The Pakistani patient is a 34-year-old man and “the first confirmed case of Mpox this year,” said Irshad Roghani, director of public health in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the man is being treated.

“We have sent samples to Islamabad for genetic sequencing of the strain,” he added.

Further infections likely

After the discovery of the case in Sweden, the WHO warned that more cases of the new variant could be expected to be imported into Europe.

The organisation's European regional office in Copenhagen said it was discussing with Sweden how best to proceed in the case.

“The confirmation of Mpox Clade 1 in Sweden is a clear reflection of the interconnectedness of our world,” it said in a statement. It is “imperative that we do not stigmatize travelers or countries/regions.”

“Travel restrictions and border closures do not work and should be avoided,” it continued.

China announced on Friday that it will begin screening people and goods entering the country for MPOX over the next six months.

The outbreak was centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo, where around 100 million people live.

Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said in a video message this week that there had been nearly 16,000 “potential” MPOX cases and 548 deaths in the country this year.

He said the government had launched a “national strategic plan for vaccination against MPOX” and was working to implement further measures to contain the outbreak.

The virus, formerly known as monkeypox, was discovered in Denmark in 1958 in monkeys kept for research purposes. It was first detected in humans in 1970 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus that is transmitted from infected animals to humans. However, the disease can also be transmitted from person to person through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscle aches and large, boil-like skin lesions.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that it would donate 50,000 doses of an Mpox vaccine to the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying the vaccination is “a critical part of the response to this outbreak.”

Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic said it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of its Mpox vaccine by 2025.

There are two subtypes of the virus: the more virulent and deadly Clade 1, which is endemic to the Congo Basin in Central Africa, and Clade 2, which is endemic to West Africa.

A global outbreak of the Clade 2b subgroup that began in 2022 resulted in about 140 deaths among about 90,000 cases, predominantly affecting gay and bisexual men.