The first person in the world died from a new Alaskapox virus (Alaskapox virus, AKPV) on the Kenai Peninsula in the United States. About it writes Alaska Public Media with reference to the Alaska Department of Health.
The department reported the death of a man with weakened immune system due to cancer treatment on Friday, February 9. He lived alone in a forested area and was in contact with a stray cat, which, according to him, regularly scratched him and hunted small mammals. The animal tested negative for AKPV.
Alaskapox virus was discovered in the state in 2015, and its symptoms are similar to those of smallpox. According to epidemiologist Dr. Julia Rogers, the virus primarily infects animals. She expects AKPV infections to be rare and deaths of immunocompromised people from it are unlikely. Rogers emphasized that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
