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Mpox virus now in Pakistan, health authorities say

by Reuters

   PESHAWAR, Pakistan --

   Pakistan's health ministry has confirmed at least one case of the mpox
   virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country, it said on
   Friday, as provincial health authorities reported they had detected
   three cases.

   A health ministry spokesperson said the sequencing of the confirmed
   case was under way, and that it would not be clear which variant of
   mpox the patient had until the process was complete.

   A new form of the virus has triggered global concern because it seems
   to spread more easily though routine close contact.

   Earlier on Friday, the health department in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
   province said three cases had been detected in patients on arrival from
   the United Arab Emirates. It was not clear whether the patient
   confirmed by the central health ministry was among the three.

   The World Health Organization has declared the recent outbreak of the
   disease as a public health emergency of international concern after the
   new variant of the virus was identified.

   Health ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah said so far they had no
   confirmation of the new variant, but the sequencing of the sample of
   the confirmed patient was under way.

   "Once that's done, we will be able to say what strain is this," said
   Shah.

   Salim Khan, the director general of health services for Khyber
   Pakhtunkhwa, said three patients were in quarantine.

   Global health officials on Thursday confirmed an infection with a new
   strain of the mpox virus in Sweden and linked it to a growing outbreak
   in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.

   The WHO on Wednesday sounded its highest level of alert over the
   outbreak in Africa after cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo
   spread to nearby countries.

   There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, mainly among
   children, in Congo since the current outbreak began in January 2023.

   The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, leads to flu-like symptoms
   and pus-filled lesions. 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.

   Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson
   Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's
   largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as
   international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000
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