Frist mpox case reported in Karachi

KARACHI: Sindh Health Department has confirmed a monkeypox (mpox) case in Karachi, marking the first instance of the disease in the city, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The patient, a 28-year-old male resident of Shah Latif Town, contracted the virus after his wife showed symptoms. The patient’s wife has a travel history abroad.

The man has been placed in an isolation ward to prevent the spread of harmful infections to others.

Earlier in January, Pakistan reported its first case of viral disease Monkeypox (also known as mpox) case of 2025.

According to the Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, the patient, who recently returned from Dubai on January 24, was identified through screening at the Peshawar airport.

The patient has been transferred to Services Hospital Peshawar for treatment. The Ministry of Health has assured that effective measures are being taken to protect the public from mpox.

The patient’s travel history reveals connections to Gulf countries, prompting concerns about the virus’s spread.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed KM Biologics’ mpox vaccine LC16 for emergency use, making it the second shot to get the approval of the global health agency.

It declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years in August after a new variant of the virus, called clade Ib, spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries.

In September, after facing criticism for moving too slowly on vaccines, the agency cleared Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine for mpox and said it was considering LC16, made by Japan’s KM Biologics, as a potential vaccine option.

The Government of Japan will donate 3.05 million doses of the vaccine, along with certain specialized needles, to Congo, the WHO said.

The vaccine has been used in Japan during previous mpox outbreaks and was shown to be safe and effective, including in people with well-controlled HIV, it said.