Authorities identify three suspected mpox patients at Karachi airport

KARACHI: As Pakistan continues to report fresh monkeypox cases, three more passengers travelling to Karachi were suspected of the disease, sources told Geo News on Sunday. 

According to the sources, the three passengers, including a female, were returning to Pakistan from Middle Eastern countries and had landed at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. 

The suspected patients have been shifted to Sindh government's Infectious Diseases Hospital, said the sources, adding that they will be kept in isolation ward until the test report comes.

The total tally of confirmed mpox cases is six across Pakistan with most cases reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mpox is a virus that causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions and, while usually mild, it can kill. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are all at higher risk of complications, reported Reuters.

In August, the WHO The World Health Organisation declared the recent outbreak of the disease a public health emergency of international concern after the new variant was identified.

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