The virus was first identified in Fairbanks in 2015, the Alaska DOH says.
An Alaska resident has died from complications of a relatively new and rare virus known as Alaskapox, according to aThis 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 him at higher risk for severe illness.
“Given the rarity of Alaskapox and its generally mild course in healthy individuals, the risk to the general public remains low,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News medical contributor. “It could be that the cat was catching voles or shrews and eating them and then have viable virus in its claws, and that was the route of , through a scratch,” McLaughlin said.
“The most recent case was in an elderly man that was immunocompromised, so his immune system was already not going to be able to handle infection,” Rogers said.Public health officials in Alaska are recommending doctors become familiar with the signs and symptoms of the virus and consider testing for patients they may suspect contracted the illness.
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