Pakistan has confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus, a day after Sweden confirmed an infection with a more easily spread and deadlier variant linked to a recent outbreak in Africa.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Health said in a statement on Friday that the mpox strain that had caused the confirmed case was not immediately known.
Irshad Roghani, director of public health in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the 34-year-old patient is being treated, said samples had been sent to Islamabad for genetic sequencing to ascertain which variant of the virus the patient contracted.
Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday raised its risk level for mpox from “low” to “moderate”, warning there would be more imported cases.
That came a day after Sweden announced it had discovered a more dangerous variant of the virus, named Clade 1, in an infected patient.
“Due to the close links between Europe and Africa, we must be prepared for more imported clade I cases,” ECDC director Pamela Rendi Wagner said.
Separately, France also put its public health system on “maximum alert level” amid concerns over the virus.
Clade 1, which spreads more easily through close contact, is linked to a deadly surge of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that began in September. The Swedish case marks the first such infection outside the African continent, according to Sweden’s Public Health Agency.
A statement from the agency quoted epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen as saying the patient had been infected during a visit to “the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox Clade 1”.
An earlier outbreak in 2022 was linked to a milder variant, known as Clade 2, endemic in West Africa. It caused about 140 deaths and 90,000 cases, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.
Health emergency
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern on Wednesday over the spread of Clade 1 in Africa after a surge in the DRC spread to Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
It said there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths in Africa caused by mpox this year, which already exceed last year’s figures. More than 96 percent of all cases and deaths have been in the DRC.
After the discovery of the case in Sweden, the WHO said it reflected “the interconnectedness of our world” and further imported cases of the new strain in Europe were likely
The organisation has advised against any travel restrictions and border closures to stop the spread of mpox, saying they “don’t work and should be avoided”.
Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said the WHO’s declaration was “specifically to encourage governments to release funding aimed at research, to release funding to boost health systems and to accelerate the rollout of those sorts of measures again”.
“Epidemiologists in Europe are saying there may only be one case detected in Sweden but that almost certainly means there are a number of cases that are unidentified out there and that of course points to the possibility of rapid international transmission.”
Pakistan’s Health Ministry has directed officials at border crossings and airports to ensure strict surveillance and collect samples for medical tests if they see symptoms of the disease in any passenger returning from abroad.
The disease caused by the virus leads to flu-like symptoms, pus-filled lesions and muscular pain. It is usually mild but can kill with children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, all at higher risk of complications.
China said on Friday that it will begin screening people and goods entering the country for mpox over the next six months.
Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of its vaccine targeting mpox by 2025 and was seeking European approval to use its mpox vaccine in children aged 12 and above.
