Health officials in Alaska reported the first known fatality from an uncommon virus known as Alaskapox. An elderly man who contracted the disease died in January, according to a bulletin from Alaska’s Department of Health released on February 9. The department notes that the man’s immune system was weakened due to cancer treatment, which likely contributed to the severity of the illness.
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Authorities are urging doctors across Alaska to be on the lookout for signs of the virus. Here is what we know about the virus.
What is Alaskapox?
Alaskapox was first discovered in an individual in Fairbanks, Alaska in July 2015 and six cases have been detected since. It is a type of orthopoxvirus that infects mammals and can spillover into humans and cause skin lesions. Other orthopoxviruses include the now-eradicated smallpox and mpox. Previously known as monkeypox, an mpox outbreak in 2022 and 2023 caused over 93,000 cases around the world.
Alaskapox generally affects small mammals including shrews and red-backed voles and rodents like red squirrels. More cases of this virus in humans coming to light does not necessarily mean that Alaskapox is becoming more prevalent.
“It’s very possible that this virus has been present in Alaska for hundreds, if not thousands, of years,” state epidemiologist and chief of the Alaska Section of Epidemiology at the Alaska Department of Health Joe McLaughlin, told CNN. “What has changed is clinician awareness and the general public’s awareness that Alaskapox virus is something that’s a possibility. It’s possible that cases occurred prior to 2015 and were just subclinical or mildly clinical and just were not diagnosed.”
How does the virus spread?
No human-to-human transmission has been documented to date, according to Alaska’s Department of Health.
“We are not sure exactly how the virus spreads from animals…
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