Mpox in Sindh

The confirmation of another monkeypox case in Karachi of a 26-year-old security guard with no foreign travel history confirms. mpox is no longer a traveller's disease in Sindh. This latest infection brings the provincial tally to 37 cases, alongside nine tragic deaths recorded just this year. When a virus stops requiring an international passport stamp to take root in a body. it means that it has established itself locally. Authorities must treat this as an urgent public healthcare issue with proactive intervention right from the get-go before it transforms into something much more difficult to contain.

Although, public perception about mpox has rashly likened it to Covid-19. That isn't true. Mpox is a highly manageable virus that primarily spreads through close, physical contact. It is necessary to contain the urge to catastrophise this disease as panic only breeds social stigma, which is something that doctors at the Sindh Infectious Disease Hospital. Research Centre are already wary of. They state that the stigma is scaring infected people away from medical care as mpox causes highly visible skin rashes. lesions. The patients end up hidden in communities where the virus only has greater chances of spreading.

The government must also prevent a broader crisis by avoiding the mistakes it made during the mpox outbreak in Khairpur. Earlier this year, seven infants contracted mpox and four of them died due to delayed recognition and care. Healthcare authorities must be vigilant this time around and screen all patients with similar skin conditions for mpox.

Simultaneously, it is also important for citizens to heighten their response. Amidst a culture of increasingly fictitious news, only credible sources must be trusted on health updates. If we replace fear with collective responsibility, this virus is entirely containable,. the current trajectory of local transmission can realistically be ceased.

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