ISTANBUL

Pakistan on Thursday reported its first suspected case of mpox for this year, prompting health authorities to issue a national advisory, local media reported. 

Sajid Shah, the country's Health Ministry spokesman, told the local daily Dawn that the suspected case involves an individual who recently arrived from a Gulf country.

Shah said the individual had minor symptoms of the viral infection, but contact tracing is being carried out to avoid local transmission and the samples have been sent to National Institutes of Health for confirmation.

The mpox spread has been declared a "public health emergency of international concern" by the World Health Organization.

Since April 2023, Pakistan has reported a total of 11 mpox cases with one death.