No monkeypox case detected in Karachi yet as four of five suspected persons test negative

No case of Mpox (monkeypox) was detected in Karachi after all the four samples sent to the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) tested negative, Sindh health department officials said on Friday, saying they were awaiting the result of the 5th sample.

“Four people, including a 14-year-old boy and his father, as well as two Pakistanis who were deported from broad have tested negative for the monkeypox, so at the moment, no person is infected with the infectious disease in Karachi or any other part of Sindh,” an official of the provincial health department told The News.

The official said PCR tests for the detection of monkeypox were conducted at the DUHS and they were awaiting the result of a young boy, who was suspected of having the monkeypox. All the four persons, including both the Somalian nationals as well as two deportees, had been kept at an isolation centre of the Border Health Services Department in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Karachi but after their test results came negative, they were allowed to leave the isolation centre, officials said.

Health department officials said the 5th suspect was a young child, who was apparently having chickenpox, but as a precautionary measure, his samples were sent to the DUHS for analysis and their result was awaited.

On the other hand, surveillance at the Karachi airport was underway and all the passengers coming from abroad, including Saudi Arabia, Sudan and other high-risk countries, were being screened, they added.

“We are focusing on deportees as they are kept in detention centres and jails prior to deportation. Every month, around 4,000 Pakistanis are deported and some of them can carry infectious diseases, including monkeypox, HIV and viral hepatitis, so we are focusing on their screening,” they said.

Sharing an advisory regarding monkeypox, a health department official said all tertiary-care hospitals had been directed to establish a designated area with five to 10 rooms for isolation of monkeypox cases within 24 hours.

The area should include appropriate infection control measures, including negative pressure, hand hygiene facilities, and personal protective equipment, to provide safe and effective care for patients. It is imperative to be vigilant for the detection of any suspected cases and ensure preparedness to launch response activities for curtailing the transmission of monkeypox disease in Sindh.

“If anyone presents with acute illness with fever >38.3°C (101°F), intense headache, lymphadenopathy, back pain, myalgia and intense asthenia followed one to three days later by a progressively developing rash often beginning on the face (most dense) and then spreading elsewhere on the body, including soles of feet and palms of hands and along with travel history of epidemic countries where monkey cases are reported [they are suspected cases],” the advisory said. It added that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had reported cases of monkeypox in 110 member states across all six WHO regions since January 2022.