Headline Roundup • February 16th, 2024
First Known Fatal Case of Alaskapox
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The first fatality from Alaskapox, a type of orthopoxvirus, has been reported on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska.
State officials released a bulletin on Feb. 9 detailing that an elderly man contracted the virus in Sept. 2023, likely from an infected stray cat who scratched him.
The man, whose immune system had been suppressed by cancer treatments, first noticed a tender red bump in his underarm. Over the next few weeks, he also experienced fatigue and pain in his arm and shoulder.
On Nov. 17, the patient was hospitalized with cellulitis, a bacterial skin...
An Alaska resident has died from complications of a relatively new and rare virus known as Alaskapox, according to a bulletin posted by Alaska state public health officials.
The Alaskapox virus was first identified in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2015, according to the Alaska Department of Health. Since then, there have been only seven cases reported in the state, according to the state health department.
This is the first case of an Alaskapox infection resulting in hospitalization and death ever reported. State public health officials noted the patient was an elderly man who was immunocompromised, putting...
Anchorage Daily News
State health officials this week reported the first known fatal case of Alaskapox in an immunocompromised Kenai Peninsula man who was undergoing treatment in Anchorage when he died in late January. Health officials say the recently discovered species of the double-stranded-DNA virus first identified in Alaska in 2015 comes from the same genus as smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox. It occurs mostly in small mammals like voles and shrews. The man is one of seven reported Alaskapox infections to date, according to an Alaska Section of Epidemiology bulletin released Friday that...
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