Monkeypox rocks Karachi as tenth case reported

Another case of Monkeypox (mpox) has been reported in Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi, Pakistan, according to hospital authorities.

A 40-year-old man, a resident of Gulistan-e-Johar, has tested positive for the mpox virus and is currently undergoing treatment in the isolation ward (ICU) of NIPA Hospital.

Hospital officials said the patient had no recent travel history. The infection was confirmed through a PCR test.

With the latest case, the number of mpox patients treated at NIPA Hospital has risen to seven, while the total number of reported cases of mpox in Karachi has reached 10.

Monkeypox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus. It is a viral zoonotic infection, meaning that it can spread from animals to humans. It can also spread from humans to other humans and from the environment to humans.

The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research and the first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, 1970). Mpox can spread from person to person or occasionally from animals to people. Following eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the end of smallpox vaccination worldwide, mpox steadily emerged in central, east and west Africa. A global outbreak occurred in 2022–2023. The natural reservoir of the virus is unknown – various small mammals such as squirrels and monkeys are susceptible.