Mpox confirmed at PIMS Islamabad: woman, 41, in the infectious control ward

A 41-year-old woman has tested positive for mpox at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad. She was brought to PIMS last week after developing skin lesions on her face, and samples sent to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the virus.

The patient is a resident of Shakrial, in suburban Islamabad. She is being treated in the hospital's infectious control ward, and hospital sources say her condition is improving and she is responding to treatment.

What mpox is

Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a viral illness. The World Health Organization describes the usual presentation as a rash that can last two to four weeks, alongside fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.

The rash is the part people recognise. It often starts flat, turns into raised bumps, then blisters that fill with fluid, crust over and fall off. It can appear on the face, palms, soles, groin, and inside the mouth or throat.

How it spreads

Person to person, through close contact. That means skin-to-skin contact with the rash or scabs, face-to-face contact such as talking or breathing close to someone, and contact with contaminated items like bedding, towels or clothing. A person is infectious from when symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a new layer of skin has formed.

This is not a virus that travels through a room the way flu does. Casual contact in a market or on a bus is a low-risk situation.

What to do if you see it

If you develop an unexplained rash with fever, particularly with swollen lymph nodes, do not self-diagnose from photographs online and do not visit a pharmacy counter for a cream. Go to a government hospital or your doctor and say what you are worried about before you sit in a full waiting room, so staff can isolate you properly.

Keep the rash covered, avoid sharing bedding and towels, and stay away from other people until a clinician has seen you. Most cases resolve with supportive care.

Why this one matters

A single confirmed case in a capital-city hospital is not an outbreak. What it does is test the chain: a suspected case at a public hospital, samples routed to NIH, confirmation, and isolation in a dedicated ward. On this occasion that chain worked, and it worked inside a week.

Pakistan's ports of entry run mpox screening for arriving passengers, and most cases confirmed here in recent years have been linked to travel. Contact tracing is the part that decides whether one case stays one case.