Two additional cases of monkeypox (mpox) have been detected in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, raising the total number of reported cases in the province to five this year.

According to the Health Department, the newly infected individuals include a 42-year-old man and a 20-year-old youth, both from Peshawar. The younger patient’s infection is locally transmitted, while the older individual had traveled back from Saudi Arabia last year.

Advisor to the Chief Minister on Health, Ehtesham Ali, confirmed that both patients are in home isolation. They initially sought medical attention at Khyber Teaching Hospital, where tests were conducted due to suspected symptoms, later confirming the presence of mpox.

Health authorities have not detected any symptoms among their family members. Sources told that an earlier case involving a woman was initially considered a local transmission. However, further investigation revealed that she had contracted the virus from her husband, who had recently returned from abroad.

The Health Department stated that while the woman remains in isolation, her case is no longer classified as locally transmitted. Her six children and parents were screened, and samples from two cousins were collected, but no additional mpox cases were found.

Earlier this year, mpox cases were also reported in Kohat, Khyber, and North Waziristan.