First Man Dies of ‘Alaskapox’

A man from the Kenai Peninsula, to the southwest of Anchorage, has become the first person to die of the recently discovered disease Alaskapox, officials have said.

In a bulletin on Friday, the Alaska Department of Health said the elderly man, who had a history of drug-induced immunosuppression because of cancer treatment, had died in late January after first exhibiting possible symptoms of the disease in mid-September.

Alaskapox is thought to have first emerged in 2015 in the Fairbanks area, and is zoonotic—that is, it is transferable between animals and humans.

The Alaska Department of Health said that there had been seven recorded instances of infections with the virus to date. Before December, all reported incidents had occurred in the Fairbanks area and involved illness that did not require treatment, such as a localized rash.

It said the man who died recently lived alone in a forested area and reported having not traveled nor been in close contact with someone with similar symptoms prior to infection.

However, he reported caring for a stray cat that regularly hunted small animals and frequently scratched him, including once on his right armpit—where a tender, red raised spot first appeared—in the month before the infection developed.

This is a developing story and will be updated with further details.