Pakistan health officials announced on Friday their first case of the year of the deadly mpox virus, after the World Health Organization declared an international emergency over its spread.
“The affected person has come from a Gulf country,” a Ministry of Health statement said, adding the strain was yet to be confirmed.
Sweden’s Public Health Agency said Thursday that it had registered a case of the Clade 1b subclade, the first to be diagnosed out of Africa.
The World Health Organization this week declared the rapid spread of the new Clade 1b strain in Africa a public health emergency of international concern—the highest alarm it can sound.
The Pakistan patient is a 34-year-old man and being treated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Irshad Roghani, director of public health there.
“This infection… is the first confirmed case we have this year,” he said.
“For genetic sequencing of the strain, we have sent samples to Islamabad.”
The UN agency has recorded more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths so far this year in DR Congo, already exceeding last year’s total.
© 2024 AFP
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Pakistan reports first case of mpox virus (2024, August 16)
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