VIRAL DEATH

Man Living on Remote Peninsula Becomes the First to Die From Alaskapox

The Kenai Peninsula in the Gulf of Alaska is more than 300 miles away from where all previous cases of Alaskapox took place in Fairbanks.

The first person has died from Alaskapox since the disease’s discovery, according to the Associated Press. An elderly man from the remote Kenai Peninsula in Alaska passed away from the disease in late January, according to an epidemiology bulletin from Feb. 9. The report did not include his age. In September, the man noticed a tender red lesion in his armpit and when his symptoms did not subside he was later hospitalized and moved to a facility in Anchorage in November. More lesions were discovered on the man’s body, and he also complained of nerve pain. The man had a history of immunosuppression due to undergoing treatment for cancer. The Kenai Peninsula in the Gulf of Alaska is more than 300 miles away from where all previous cases of Alaskapox took place in Fairbanks. The man had recently let in a stray cat, which hunted small animals. Researchers believe that Alaskapox is spread through animals. Alaskapox has previously been found in the domestic pet of at least one patient, but was not found in the cat the man had been keeping. Alaskapox was discovered in 2015. In 2021, two people caught the illness in Fairbanks, but both made a full recovery. Besides this one, only six cases have ever been reported.