ISLAMABAD: As many as 21 suspects of mpox have been discharged from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) after their tests for the viral disease came back negative.

The sole mpox patient is also “stable and will be discharged during the next week”, Pims spokesperson Dr Haider Abbasi told Dawn. “The 41 years old confirmed patient is completely stable and will be discharged from the hospital during the upcoming week,” he said.

Giving details about the 21 individuals who were discharged, Dr Abbasi said, “Majority of them had arrived from Saudi Arabia and were being suspected as positive for mpox, as the only confirmed patient of mpox had also come from Saudi Arabia. Out of 21 suspects, two had symptoms of mpox and others did not have any symptoms,” he added. According to the spokesperson, all tests came back negative for mpox while two people were tested positive for smallpox.

It is worth mentioning that the mpox-positive person had arrived in Islamabad from Saudi Arabia on 17th April, and went to the Pims to get himself tested.

Pims Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases Dr Naeem Akhtar had identified that the patient could be suffering from mpox and admitted him to the isolation ward.

Later, it emerged that the patient had mpox and another traveller on board the same flight as him was also reportedly found positive for the disease.

A senior doctor of Pims, requesting anonymity, said that the patient had cleared the immigration counter and came out of the airport without being identified as a potential mpox patient.

“Next day the patient came to Pims for a check-up... it shows that he might be deported because of mpox,” the doctor said, adding that the patient had claimed to spend at least 20 years in Jeddah working as a driver.

The statement of the patient “further strengthens our doubts that he was deported because of mpox... If that is indeed the case, we are astonished that how a patient was deported without informing the authorities of Pakistan that he had contracted mpox,” he added.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a statement informed that it was working and investigating on the cases of mpox as the situation regarding mpox in Pakistan was still evolving.

“WHO will assist the Government of Pakistan as per their requirement especially in lab testing, points of entry and provision of testing kits,” it stated.

Mpox — which spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions — was declared a global health emergency by the WHO in July 2022.

The organisation maintained its alert in November.

In November, the WHO named the disease Mpox to replace the older term monkeypox, citing concerns of stigma and racism associated with the name.

On Friday, at least four air travellers suspected of having mpox tested negative for the disease in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023