Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Reports First Locally Transmitted Mpox Case

News Desk

Islamabad: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has confirmed its first locally transmitted case of monkeypox (mpox), as announced by the province’s chief minister’s health adviser, Ihtisham Ali, on Sunday.

The infection was identified in a woman who was hospitalized on February 18 after experiencing symptoms like fever and body aches, according to Dr. Fazal Majeed, the director of Public Health.

A day later, rashes appeared on her body and inside her mouth. Dr. Muhammad Aamir Khan, the Public Health Coordinator, reported the suspected case on February 20.

A sample was collected by a team from the Public Health Section and sent to the Public Health Reference Laboratory at Khyber Medical University in Peshawar, where the diagnosis was confirmed on February 21.

This marks a shift from previous cases in the province, which were all linked to international travel. In this instance, the woman’s husband had recently returned from a Gulf country. Though he showed no symptoms at first, he was later confirmed to be infected with mpox as well, as reported by Majeed.

Mpox is a viral disease closely related to smallpox, which has been eradicated. The disease spreads through close contact and contaminated materials like sheets, clothing, and needles, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO declared the recent outbreak a global emergency in August of the previous year.

The initial symptoms resemble those of the flu, including fever, chills, fatigue, headache, and muscle aches. These are typically followed by a painful or itchy rash with raised lesions that scab over and heal over weeks.

Infants, individuals with severely weakened immune systems, and pregnant women are at higher risk for severe infections.

In the past two months, two cases in the province have been linked to international travel. One case involved a five-month-old infant who had returned from Qatar, and the other involved a passenger returning from Dubai.