A symposium called “Monkeypox: Evolution and Clinical Symptoms” was recently held at the University of Karachi to talk about the growing danger of new viruses as the world’s population grows. The Department of Microbiology and the Association of Molecular and Microbial Sciences put together the event where experts talked about how the monkeypox virus has changed over time and what effects it has had.
Vice-Chancellor of Dow University Professor Dr. Saeed Qureshi said that new bugs are always a problem for people around the world. He told the students to use what they knew to fight these dangers and stressed how important it was to make more people aware of monkeypox, which has become a major threat even though it was first found fifty years ago.
Dr. Mushtaq Hussain, Principal of Biotechnology at Dow University, talked about how quickly the virus changes. He said that new cases are linked to the more dangerous Clade I or Alpha strain. He said that its evolution was like that of the lumpy skin disease virus, which is also in the pox family. This made him think that monkeypox might go through similar changes in its evolution.
Dr. Muneeba Ahsan, an infectious disease expert at Dow University, talked about the risks of the virus, especially the high death rate that comes with Clade I. She said that even though cases of monkeypox have been recorded in 13 countries, which means that there could be a global outbreak, things are under control in Pakistan right now. Dr. Ahsan said that monkeypox mostly spreads through direct contact with other people. He suggested that patients should be kept away from other people, surgical masks should be worn, and personal items like towels and bedsheets should be kept separate until skin sores have healed.
Dr. Najia Ghanji from Aga Khan University stressed how important it is to find infections in their early stages, within the first two weeks. She stressed how important molecular tests are for finding the virus and keeping an eye on possible mutations. Because it is so easily spread, she put monkeypox in the Risk Group 4 pathogen category.
At the end of the symposium, there was an interactive Q&A with students and teachers from different departments. The focus was on how important early diagnosis, public awareness, and being ready are for stopping a possible epidemic.