Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported its third monkeypox case pushing Pakistan’s total count to four after a passenger was detected with the virus upon his return to the country from abroad.

The KP director public health, while conforming the province’s third case, said that the Public Health Laboratory has confirmed monkeypox in the patient, hailing from Orakzai. He has been shifted to Peshawar’s Services Hospital after showing symptoms at the airport.

The development comes as the Federal Ministry of Health issued strict guidelines provisioning screening, isolation and other preventive measures, including thermal scanning, at all international airports across the country in light of the threat posed by the recent global outbreak of the monkeypox virus.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has also directed all airlines flying into Pakistan from abroad to adopt preventive measures against monkeypox at the airports.

Furthermore, the CAA has been made responsible for facilitating the implementation of health measures and is ensuring compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) by carrying out regular inspections and audits.

Whereas the Border Health Services (BHS) — working as the lead agency responsible for the overall coordination and management of mpox-related operations at international airports — is managing the isolation and safe transportation of suspected mpox cases to designated medical facilities.

The directives came after a new form of the virus triggered global concern because it seems to spread more easily through routine close contact. A case of the new variant was confirmed on August 15 in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), mpox is a viral disease related to the now-eradicated smallpox virus and can spread through any close contact and through contaminated materials like sheets, clothing and needles.

Initial symptoms of the disease include fever, chills, muscle pain, swelling of the glands, exhaustion, headache and muscle weakness which are often followed by a painful or itchy rash with raised lesions that scab over and resolve over a period of weeks.

It is to be noted that out of the four mpox cases reported in Pakistan, three have been reported in KP’s Mardan, Nowshera and Orakzai. However, none of the cases were domestic and were detected in passengers returning from abroad.

Providing an update on the latest case, director public health said that the patient’s condition is stable and he is being treated at the Services Hospital.