Karachi has the world’s first case of monkeypox.
A 36-year-old ex-pat came home from Jeddah after being quarantined there due to newly discovered illnesses.
On May 23, 2022, an image of test tubes with the caption “Monkeypox virus positive” was captured. REUTERS PHOTO
KARACHI:
On Thursday, a 36-year-old foreigner working as a driver in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was diagnosed with monkeypox after travelling to Pakistan.
After his symptoms were recognised, Meer Muhammad was placed in isolation. Contact tracing is now being conducted after a test for the virus on his skin lesions came back positive at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).
The JPMC intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency room (ER) were visited by the Sindh Health Department’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) team following orders from above.
The group included Dr. Khalilullah Memon, the Deputy Director, Dr. Arslan Memon, the Monitoring and Evaluating Officer, Dr. Saira Zaidi, the Focal Person EPI, and Dr. Tanvir Ahmed Khan, the Statistical Officer.
The Dadu native returned to Karachi on May 3 after visiting Jeddah through Oman Air (Jeddah-Oman-Karachi).
On the 20th of April, he had travelled to Makkah to do Umrah and return to Jeddah. In Makkah, he had received symptomatic care for a little fever. However, at the time, he had no prior history of lesions.
His Saudi employers had no record of fever or skin problems, either. In Jeddah, Muhammad was the only resident.
A PCR sample acquired from the expat’s blood was submitted to Dow University of Health Sciences from the Karachi airport. After another PCR was taken at the clinic on May 4, he was admitted to JPMC on suspicion of having the virus.
Both PCR assays were successful.
The patient claims that he has not spoken with his loved ones since his arrival in Karachi and that he did not make any physical touch with anybody during his flight.
He is currently running a low-grade fever, catching a cold at night, and covered with lesions, the largest of which are located in the genital area. In addition, the patient has a history of a moderate, otherwise nondescript cough.
Reports indicate that the patient is responding favourably to symptomatic treatment with antipyretics and antiallergics. The doctor hasn’t yet gotten samples from his close circle of friends and family.
The patient’s relatives and family in Pakistan are in Jeddah, while they are in Johi, Dadu.
At JPMC’s Medical ICU, which has its own dedicated monkeypox isolation ward, strict IPC measures have been implemented.
The first two people in Pakistan to be diagnosed with monkeypox have since fully recovered, according to health officials.
Officials at the ministry said that the individual deported from Saudi Arabia and taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital in Islamabad has been released.
The other individual, who is undergoing quarantine at home, is now likewise in stable condition, the report said.
Health officials have urged the public to be on high alert and take precautions in the wake of the potential spread of monkeypox, a viral illness with symptoms similar to smallpox.
According to Dr. Waqar Ahmed, the District Health Officer for Communicable Diseases, the incubation period for monkeypox is anywhere from five to twenty-one days (on average, 12 days). He also mentioned that it’s possible for someone to be infected with the virus without showing any symptoms at all.
“The infectious period for monkeypox begins with the onset of symptoms and can last up to four weeks,” he said.
Contact with infected animals, such as handling or eating meat from infected animals, or infected people, such as through respiratory droplets or contact with infected body fluids or skin lesions, is the primary mode of transmission, according to Dr. Waqar.
He noted that factors such as exposure, illness severity, and the efficacy of infection control methods all have a role in determining the transmission rate.
