Health officials confirm last week's mpox case not a new variant

Health ministry says virus has been classified as Clade 2b

ISLAMABAD:

A case of mpox in Pakistan announced last week was not the new strain spreading through Africa, health officials confirmed on Monday.

The mpox diagnosis in a 34-year-old man recently returned from a Gulf country was declared by health officials on Friday, while testing over the exact strain was carried out.

"The virus has been classified as Clade 2b," the health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"Currently, the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is primarily associated with Clade 1b. Notably, as of now, there have been no reported cases of Clade 1b in Pakistan."

Mpox infections surged worldwide in May 2022, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men due to the Clade 2b subclade, but cases have largely subsided.

The World Health Organization declared last week the rapid spread of the new Clade 1b strain in Africa a public health emergency of international concern -- the highest alarm it can sound.

Sweden's Public Health Agency said Thursday that it had registered a case of the Clade 1b subclade, the first to be diagnosed out of Africa.

Around 16,000 cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the epidemic which has killed 548 people in the country so far.