PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has screened over 15,000 passengers for mpox at Peshawar airport and Torkham border but didn’t detect any symptoms of the viral infection, officials said on Monday.

They also revealed that the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad had found the strain in the recently confirmed mpox case from Mardan district to be clade 2B of the virus.

Officials told a meeting of the provincial Outbreak and Response Committee chaired by Health Minister Syed Qasim Ali Shah that the screening of passengers for mpox was in progress at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport.

They said over 10,000 passengers from 83 flights were screened at Peshawar airport and over 5,000 people at the Torkham border, but none of them had symptoms of mpox.

NIH finds clade 2B strain in a confirmed case of infection from Mardan

The officials also said the 34-year-old mpox patient from Mardan had a road accident in Saudi Arabia on August 3 and returned to Pakistan on August 10 before visiting the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar for treatment of a fractured leg.

They, however, said the man was referred to the chairman of the dermatology department Dr Mehran Khan, who suspected mpox and recommended testing.

The officials said the man’s specimen was sent to the Public Health Reference Laboratory at the Khyber Medical University which diagnosed him with the viral infection.

They said the health department immediately ensured the establishment of an isolation ward for suspected mpox cases at the Mardan Medical Complex.

Director (public health) Dr Irshad Roghani, who was also present in the meeting, said a blood sample from Mardan’s mpox case was sent to the NIH for genetic sequencing, whose results, released on Monday, declared the strain as clade 2B, which originated in West Africa.

In the last two years, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded three mpox cases, including one this year and two last year, with all having travelled to Saudi Arabia.

The director told participants that a control room had been established at the Directorate General of Health Services, with rapid response teams being activated.

He added that the establishment of control rooms by the outbreak committee was underway at the district level to strengthen disease surveillance mechanisms.

The meeting, which was also attended by director general (health) Dr Mohammad Saleem and other senior health officials, was informed that the World Health Organisation had declared a “public health emergency of international concern” for mpox on August 14.

Officials said the zoonotic disease spread from animals to humans through respiratory droplets, direct contact with blisters or rashes of infected persons, and unprotected sexual contact.

They said the first mpox case was reported in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the outbreaks of infection being limited to Central and West Africa until 2022.

The officials said 3,527 cases had so far been detected in Asian countries, including China and Vietnam.

They said the health department regularly issued advisories, guidelines and case management protocols to all healthcare workers across the province.

The officials said isolation wards were being set up at district headquarters hospitals, while private hospitals were directed through the Healthcare Commission to follow suit.

The minister urged people to maintain social distance and exercise caution during interactions and gatherings and emphasised that the media should help create public awareness of mpox to prevent its spread.

He said the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System should remain active to ensure the testing of people with mpox symptoms in a timely manner.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2024