Two women test positive for mpox at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital

LAHORE: Two women were found to be infected with the mpox virus at Mayo Hospital on Tuesday, while Bahawal Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur confirmed another case, taking its total number of confirmed infections to three.

According to reports, the two women brought to Mayo Hospital had similar symptoms associated with mpox, a rare infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. Doctors placed both patients in isolation soon after their arrival and subsequent investigations and tests confirmed the infection. A senior doctor said the women apparently had no history of international travel. He added that the hospital administration had informed the health department for further inquiry.

Another case confirmed in Bahawalpur

In Bahawalpur, BVH Medical Superintendent’s Coordinator and Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Rizwan told Dawn that a man’s blood samples, sent to a laboratory in Lahore on Friday, tested positive on Tuesday. He said the patient had already been receiving treatment in the hospital’s isolation ward before the test result arrived.

With this confirmation, the number of mpox cases at Bahawal Victoria Hospital has risen to three. Dr Rizwan also said the condition of a staff nurse who had earlier been diagnosed with mpox had improved. According to him, she no longer had fever or skin spots, and if her recovery continued in the same manner, she could be discharged after completing the remaining period of the mandatory 21-day isolation.

He said the third patient from whom the staff nurse had allegedly contracted the virus had already recovered and had earlier been discharged from the hospital. Hospital sources said the man who tested positive on Tuesday had reportedly been serving food to the original mpox patient and looking after him during his stay in hospital. The staff nurse is also believed to have contracted the virus from the same patient.

Although the nurse has largely recovered, she remains in the isolation ward to complete the required quarantine period.