A three-year-old boy in Karachi tested positive for mpox on Friday, taking Sindh’s tally of the viral infection this year to 115, including 12 deaths. Hospital sources said the child is under treatment at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Centre (SIDH&RC), the province’s main facility for such cases.
Mpox is a viral illness that spreads through close contact with an infected person or through contaminated bedding, towels, medical instruments, surfaces or other objects. It was once mainly linked to international travellers, but local transmission and facility-related clusters have become a public-health concern in Sindh.
Link to sealed Malir hospital
A doctor at SIDH&RC said the boy, like two recent cases, had undergone circumcision at the same Malir hospital that regulators sealed over weak infection-control practices. That facility is Ibne Hassan Hospital. The Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC), which oversees private healthcare standards in the province, sealed it more than 10 days earlier after a laboratory report confirmed mpox in an infant and inspectors flagged infection prevention gaps.
Dr Ahson Qavi Siddiqi, chief executive of the SHCC, said the hospital was operating legally but was not registered with the commission. Inspectors sealed it after reports that a child appeared to have contracted mpox there. During the visit, the team found a dispenser performing circumcision, a procedure beyond that worker’s allowed scope.
Patients under care and an infant death
SIDH&RC now has seven mpox patients under treatment. They include the mother and an aunt of an infant who died of mpox early this week after 10 days of care — described as the first infant death from the disease in Karachi this year. Another child linked to the same setting had been in intensive care. With the latest toddler, cases reported at SIDH&RC this year stand at 31, while the provincial total is 115 with 12 deaths.
What regulators are doing next
On Friday the sealed Malir hospital was opened for sanitisation, fumigation and disinfection, then sealed again. Dr Siddiqi said that cleaning will continue for some time, after which sampling will check whether the building is safe to reopen. The operators must also submit legal documents before the commission decides the case’s outcome.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- More than 10 days ago: SHCC seals Ibne Hassan Hospital in Malir after an infant’s confirmed mpox case and infection-control concerns.
- Over the following days: an infant remains under treatment for 10 days at SIDH&RC; another linked child is placed in intensive care.
- Early this week: the infant dies of mpox — the first such infant death in Karachi this year; the mother and an aunt remain among patients in care.
- Friday: a three-year-old boy who had circumcision at the same Malir hospital tests positive; Sindh’s year-to-date count reaches 115 cases and 12 deaths.
- Friday: the sealed hospital is opened for disinfection work, then sealed again pending sampling and paperwork.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Karachi mein teen saal ka ek bacha mpox se pehla gaya hai. Yeh bacha Malir ke us hospital mein khatna ke baad beemar hua jise infection control ki kami ki wajah se band kiya gaya tha. Sindh mein is saal ab 115 cases aur 12 mautain ho chuki hain. Close contact aur gandi sheets, towels ya medical tools se bimari fail sakti hai, is liye hospital ki safai aur ehtiyat zaroori hai.
