Health Ministry urges vigilance in hospitals amid signs of local transmission from Punjab
Test tubes labeled ‘Monkeypox virus positive’ are seen in this illustration taken May 23, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS
PESHAWAR:
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) health department on Thursday put all public and private hospitals on high alert for mpox following a notable increase in confirmed cases across the province.
Officials reported that more than two dozen, for a total of 26, mpox infections have been detected in the past 12 months. Of these, 18 patients were men and six were women. An advisory stressed the need for rapid isolation of suspected cases and rigorous testing to curb further spread.
The directive was issued in response to an increase in referrals from suspected patients and an increase in laboratory-confirmed positive results through the province’s surveillance and diagnostic systems. Health officials noted that cases showed a significant increase in 2025 compared to the previous year, with further detections continuing into early 2026.
Read more: KP reports the first locally transmitted case of mpox
Initially, mpox infections in the province were associated with travel from the Gulf countries, where individuals tested positive on arrival and were deported or managed accordingly. However, recent trends indicate that local transmission is emerging in Pakistan.
Several cases are suspected to originate from Punjab, which remained largely unaffected early on but reported over 25 cases late last year, a development that may have contributed to the rise in KP.
The first locally acquired case, with no international travel history, was diagnosed in February 2025. In 2023, the province recorded only two cases, both imported from the Middle East.
Health officials expressed concern about the changing epidemiological pattern, including the absence of travel history in many recent patients and challenges in tracing close contacts in several cases. This raises fears of potential community transmission and the risk of the zoonotic infection becoming more entrenched if containment efforts lag.
Doctors have been instructed to suspect mpox in patients with characteristic symptoms such as specific skin rashes or lesions, fever, body aches and swollen lymph nodes, especially those with known close contact with confirmed or suspected cases.
Read also: Two more monkeypox cases reported in KP
Hospitals are required to immediately isolate suspected individuals upon first contact and maintain strict infection prevention and control (IPC) measures until test results are available.
Globally, mpox continues to be reported in various regions, prompting ongoing recommendations from the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for increased surveillance, early diagnosis, robust IPC protocols in healthcare settings, and rapid laboratory confirmation to limit transmission.
Provincial health officials stressed that timely response remains critical to preventing wider outbreaks in the region.
