The first case of monkeypox (mpox) was reported in Karachi, the Sindh Health Department confirmed on Thursday, bringing the tally to four in the country.

“The traveller who was working as a driver in Jeddah and made his way back to Pakistan via Oman has had his test results confirmed to have monkeypox,” said the department in a statement. “He was being isolated since he presented with these symptoms and his contact tracing is underway.”

Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic disease that is caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Although the natural reservoir of monkeypox remains unknown, African rodents and non-human primates like monkeys may harbour the virus and infect people.

Health authorities quarantined on April 28 four air travellers suspected of having mpox following their arrival at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, according to media reports.

Samples from the patient were taken on Wednesday and sent to the Dow University Virology Lab after he showed symptoms of mpox. He had red marks on his body and a high fever

This is the fourth monkeypox case reported in Pakistan. The first two cases were reported in Islamabad and another in Lahore.

The Sindh Health Department has advised the people to take precautions and according to medical experts, there was no vaccine for the disease.

The Federal Ministry of Health last week claimed that it was vigilantly monitoring the situation while keeping all the relevant stakeholders on board for ensuring preparedness, timely response, and containment of mpox cases in Pakistan.

The Border Health Services issued a monkeypox advisory to the health authorities to enhance screening of inbound passengers at all international airports on the recent case detection in the country.

What is monkeypox

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), according to the World Health Organisation.

A global outbreak of the virus took place in 2022-2023. The disease is characterised by rashes, enlarged lymph nodes and fever although most people make a full recovery. The rashes can turn into blisters or lesions.

Symptoms include:

• rash
• fever
• sore throat
• headache
• muscle aches
• back pain
• low energy
• swollen lymph nodes

The disease is contagious and can be passed to others and a person is only declared healed when the rashes or blisters have completely healed and a new layer of skin has formed.