Pakistan confirms that Mpox case is not a new variant

The diagnosis of Mpox in a 34-year-old man who recently returned from a Gulf country was announced by health authorities on Friday while tests were being conducted for the exact strain.

“The virus has been classified as clade 2b,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Monday.

“Currently, the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is mainly associated with Clade 1b. Notably, no cases of Clade 1b have been reported in Pakistan to date.”

In May 2022, Mpox infections rose sharply worldwide, primarily affecting gay and bisexual men due to the Clade 2b subgroup. Cases have now largely declined.

The World Health Organization last week declared the rapid spread of the new Clade 1b strain in Africa an international health emergency – the highest level of alert it can trigger. Sweden's health authority said on Thursday that it had registered a case of the Clade 1b subgroup, the first diagnosed outside Africa. Around 16,000 cases have been registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the epidemic, which has so far killed 548 people in the country.