It is quite difficult for a person to get infected with the new Alaskapox virus (Alaskapox virus, AKPV) – “Alaskan smallpox”, said Nikolai Kryuchkov, a doctor-immunologist, candidate of medical sciences. In a conversation with “Lenta.ru” he spoke about the characteristics of the new type of disease.
The origin of “Alaska smallpox”.
“The virus itself belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. This is a very widely known genus of virus in terms of the fact that a number of its representatives cause different diseases in people. For example, the smallpox virus. This is the virus that caused entire pandemics and was extremely dangerous until it actually disappeared with the help of vaccination. At the moment there is no such thing,” said the immunologist.
In addition to smallpox, Kryuchkov recalled another virus of the orthopoxvirus genus – monkeypox. He noted that there were large outbreaks of this disease around the world.
