A case of the mpox virus detected in Pakistan last week is not the same strain of the virus spreading on the African continent, Pakistan health officials said Monday.
Health officials determined that the case in Pakistan can be classified as Clade 2b, Pakistan’s health ministry said in a statement.
"Currently, the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is primarily associated with Clade 1b. Notably, as of now, there have been no reported cases of Clade 1b in Pakistan," the statement said.
However, Swedish officials said last week a Clade 1b subclade was detected in an individual, becoming the first case linked to the African outbreak and diagnosed outside of Africa.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared last week the uptick in mpox cases in the DRC and other African countries as a public health emergency of international concern.
"The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighboring countries are very worrying,” Tedros said. “On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a virus endemic in several African countries. About 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of mpox were reported in Africa since the beginning of the year across 13 countries, claiming more than 500 lives.
The WHO last week sounded its highest level of alert over the outbreak in Africa after cases in the DR Congo spread to nearby countries. 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. Symptoms include fever, body aches, weakness, headaches and rashes.
Currently there is no treatment approved specifically for mpox infections. For most patients with mpox who have intact immune systems and don't have a skin disease, supportive care and pain control will help them recover without medical treatment, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The viral infection can spread, according to WHO, through close contact with an infected person. That contact can include, touching, kissing, sex, and talking with or breathing close to someone who is infected.
The virus, WHO said, can also linger “for some time on clothing, bedding, towels, objects, electronics and surfaces that have been touched by a person with mpox.”
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
