K-P's first diagnosed monkeypox patient reported missing from home in Mardan

The first monkeypox patient in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has gone missing from his home in Mardan.

According to sources, the individual, who had returned from Saudi Arabia, was diagnosed with monkeypox.

The health department reported that the diagnosis was made in Peshawar.

However, when a medical team visited the patient's residence to provide guidelines, the house was found locked.

Further inquiry with the District Health Officer (DHO) of the patient's native area in Dir revealed that the patient was not present there either.

The health ministry and relevant authorities are now intensifying their investigation and response efforts.

The World Health Organization has declared recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant of the virus has been identified.

Pakistan has had cases of mpox, also called monkeypox, previously. It was not immediately clear which variant was detected in the patients.

Global health officials on Thursday confirmed an infection with a new strain of the mpox virus in Sweden and linked it to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent a day after the World Health Organization declared the disease a global public health emergency.

The WHO on Wednesday declared the outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern, its highest level of alert, after cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to nearby countries.

There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, mainly among children, in Congo since the current outbreak began in January 2023.

The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever and can make some people very ill, the WHO website says.

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