Colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles (orange) found within an infected cell (green), cultured in the laboratory. (NIH-NIAID/IMAGE POINT FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Pakistan health officials announced on Friday their first
case of 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.
READ | Sweden confirms first case of mpox, also first outside Africa
“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.
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