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       KARACHI: The detection of Sindh’s first mpox case — also the first case of local transmission — in the city a day earlier has raised alarm in both public and private circles, forcing the government to take immediate steps to improve inter-departmental coordination for strengthening screening at the Jinnah International Airport, sources told Dawn.

       They said the officials representing the provincial health department and Border Health Services held a meeting on Sunday at the airport for making the surveillance mechanisms more effective.

       The meeting decided that there would be special focus on the passengers arriving from Saudi Arabia given the fact that almost all the (suspected) cases detected so far had a travel history to the Gulf country. Even in the present first positive case, they pointed out, there was a connection with the kingdom.

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       The officials also decided that the airport health staff would undergo a capacity building exercise.

       The attendees included Health Services Director Dr Saqib Sheikh, Border Health Services Director Dr Musarrat and Sindh health department Focal Person Dr Syed Zafar Mehdi.

       The sources said that while the passenger screening measures were already in place since August last year when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the contagious viral infection a global health emergency, the steps had lost their effectiveness with time.

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       They said the health department officials had initiated contact tracing, investigating all aspects of the case involving a 29-year-old man currently under treatment in the isolation ward at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. While the patient had no travel history to the affected region, his wife had reportedly travelled to Saudi Arabia in recent days.

       Meanwhile, the patient, also hepatitis C positive and resident of Malir district’s Shah Latif town, is in stable condition at the JPMC.

       According to officials, Pakistan reported this year’s first case of mpox in January when a passenger arriving from the Gulf region in Peshawar tested positive for the infection.

       Last year, eight mpox cases were reported in the country while the government confirmed nine cases in 2023, all among travellers returning from the Middle East and other countries. There have been no cases of local transmission of the virus so far.

       Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2025