No monkeypox testing facility in Pakistan: official

Pakistan does not have a single laboratory which could test people for monkeypox, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

According to officials, blood samples can be sent outside Pakistan for testing. It was also said that the country is yet to have a testing kit as well.

Earlier, the news was circulating on social media about the detection of two monkeypox cases in Lahore.

A spokesperson for NIH, in a statement, said the news circulating on the social media platforms regarding monkeypox cases in Pakistan is ‘fake’.

No case of monkeypox has been detected in Pakistan so far, the spokesperson said and added that the health officials are strictly monitoring the situation.

Earlier, the National Institute of Health (NIH) issued an alert regarding the spread of the disease in Pakistan.

In a statement, the health department issued a high alert to provinces and other intuitions to take timely measures to prevent the spread of infectious disease in the country.

HOW DANGEROUS IS IT?

The risk to the general public is low at this time, a U.S. public health official told reporters at a briefing on Friday.

Monkeypox is a virus that can cause symptoms including fever, and aches and presents with a distinctive bumpy rash.

It is related to smallpox, but is usually milder, particularly the West African strain of the virus identified in a U.S. case, which has a fatality rate of around 1%. Most people fully recover in two to four weeks, the official said.