Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has confirmed its third case of monkeypox within a span of two weeks. Dr. Irshad Roghani, the Director of Public Health, announced that a 51-year-old traveler from Orakzai district exhibited symptoms of the virus upon arriving at Bacha Khan Airport after returning from abroad.
According to Dr. Roghani, the suspected case was identified during routine passenger screenings conducted by medical teams at the airport. The individual was promptly transferred to Police Line Hospital in Peshawar for diagnostic testing. Rapid Response teams at the hospital collected blood samples, which were sent to the Public Health Reference Laboratory at Khyber Medical University (KMU). The laboratory later confirmed the infection.
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The patient is currently in stable condition and receiving treatment in the Isolation Ward of Police Line Hospital. This marks the third confirmed case in the province within two weeks.
The first monkeypox case in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year was detected on August 15, 2024, just a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern due to the escalating outbreak in Africa and the emergence of a new virus variant in several countries.
All confirmed cases in the province have involved travelers recently returning to Pakistan from abroad. The first case involved a resident of Mardan district, followed by a second case in Nowshera, and now the third case in a traveler from Orakzai district. Genetic sequencing of the first two cases revealed that the patients were infected with the Clade 2B strain of the virus.
