Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded its first locally transmitted case of monkeypox (mpox), the province’s chief minister’s health adviser, Ihtisham Ali, confirmed on Sunday.
The infection was detected in a woman who was admitted to hospital on February 18 after experiencing fever and body aches, said Dr Fazal Majeed, the director of Public Health.
He further revealed that rashes appeared on her body and inside her mouth a day later after which Public Health Coordinator, Dr Muhammad Aamir Khan, reported the suspected case on February 20.
A team from the Public Health Section collected samples and sent them to the Public Health Reference Laboratory at Khyber Medical University in Peshawar, where the deadly disease was confirmed on February 21.
This case marks a departure from previous infections in the province, which were linked solely to international travel.
However, in this case, the infected woman’s husband had recently returned from a Gulf country. While he initially showed no symptoms upon his arrival in Pakistan, he was later confirmed to be infected with mpox as well, according to Majeed.
