Alaskapox: What is the viral disease that killed an elderly man?
An elderly man from Alaska has become the first person to die after contracting Alaskapox – a recently discovered viral disease.
But how dangerous is Alaskapox, how many people have caught it and what are the symptoms? Here’s everything you need to know.
What is it?
Alaskapox, or AKPV, is a double-stranded DNA virus with officials saying it appears to be zoonotic, primarily circulating across Alaska’s state mammals with occasional transmission to humans.
It’s a type of bug known as an orthopoxvirus. The most well-known variation of this type of virus is smallpox. There’s also camelpox, cowpox, horsepox and mpox – formerly known as monkeypox.
When was it discovered and how many people have had it?
It was discovered in 2015 in a woman who lived near Fairbanks, Alaska, hence the name Alaskapox. She was diagnosed after she began suffering from a localised rash and swollen lymph nodes.
It has mainly been found in small mammals, including red-backed voles and shrews, but health officials say household pets may also carry the virus.
Seven people, all in Alaska, have been infected with it in the last nine years.
The latest known case was the elderly man from Kenai Peninsula, to the south of the state, who health officials say was undergoing treatment in hospital when he died in late January.
The man was from the Kenai Peninsula, in the south of Alaska. Pic: iStock
How does it spread?
Officials believe it’s through contact with infected animals.
There has been no documented case of it spreading from one person to another. But other viruses in the same family can spread when one person comes in contact with another person’s lesions, so Alaska health officials are advising anyone with an Alaskapox lesion to cover it with a bandage.
Officials said it was “unclear” how the man who died was exposed to the virus – although he had reported caring for a stray cat at his home which had scratched him, possibly causing the transmission.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms have included one or more bumps or pustules on the skin, as well as joint or muscle pain and swollen lymph nodes.
Nearly all patients had mild illnesses that resolved on their own after a few weeks without the need for treatment.
An Alaskapox lesion photographed over a four-week period. Pic: AP/Alaska Department of Health
The man who died in January was being treated for cancer and had a suppressed immune system because of the drugs, which the Alaskan health department said likely contributed to the severity of his illness.
He spotted a red bump in his armpit in September and was given antibiotics, however his symptoms worsened as he experienced fatigue and increased pain in the area and shoulder.
After his right arm’s range of motion was impacted, the man was transferred to a hospital in Anchorage where he reported further symptoms including pox-like lesions, the case report said.
An “extensive battery” of tests were performed and showed a positive result for cowpox.
While his condition improved one week into the therapy, he would soon suffer from delayed wound healing, respiratory and kidney failure, resulting in his death.
The man began to improve about a week after treatment with intravenous medications but died in late January after experiencing kidney failure and other systemic declines, according to officials.
Could this spread beyond Alaska?
Officials have yet to comment on the possibility of the virus spreading to other regions.
As we said before, all seven cases detected so far have been in Alaska, and six of those have occurred in people living in the same borough: Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB).
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The latest case, however, was found in the elderly man living in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, which is 370 miles from FNSB, according to Google Maps.
A statement from the Alaska Division of Public Health explains how prevalent the virus could be throughout the US state: “While animal trapping studies have confirmed the presence of the virus in small mammals in FNSB, it is likely that the virus is present more broadly in Alaska’s small mammals and that more infections in humans have occurred but were not identified.
“More animal testing is occurring to better understand the distribution of the virus in animal populations throughout Alaska.”
How to protect yourself and pets once the virus is caught
Officials say the best ways to keep pets and family members safe is to keep a safe distance and wash your hands after being outdoors. It also advises avoiding keeping wildlife as pets.
Any lesions that are found should be covered, kept dry and not touched, they add.
Russia has launched a “massive” drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital overnight, after Moscow itself was targeted.
Amid flailing peace talks, the Kremlin’s nightly attacks on Ukraine continued.
Ukraine war – follow the latest updates
A large-scale Russian attack through the night into Sunday injured at least 11 in Kyiv and killed three people in towns surrounding the capital.
There were attacks elsewhere as well, including drone strikes in Mykolaiv, where a residential building was hit.
An apartment building destroyed after a Russian attack in Mykolaiv. Pic: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
‘Massive’ attack
In Kyiv, the city’s administration warned “the night will be difficult”, as people were urged to remain in shelters.
The city’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko described it as a “massive” attack.
He said: “Explosions in the city. Air defence forces are working. The capital is under attack by enemy UAVs. Do not neglect your safety! Stay in shelters!”
It came after at least 15 people were injured in attacks the night prior.
Russia claimed it also faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday, and that it intercepted and destroyed around 100 of them near Moscow and across Russia’s central and southern regions.
A municipality worker cleans up after a Russian drone strike on Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Russia ‘dragging out the war’
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continued a prisoner exchange, marking a rare moment of cooperation in the war.
Amid the most recent attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his calls for sanctions on Russia.
Russia “fills each day with horror and murder” and is “simply dragging out the war”, he said.
A resident looks at an apartment building that was damaged in a Russian drone strike. Pic: Reuters
“All of this demands a response – a strong response from the United States, from Europe, and from everyone in the world who wants this war to end,” Mr Zelenskyy added.
Every day “gives new grounds for sanctions against Russia”, he said, and each day without pressure proves the “war will continue”.
Ukraine, meanwhile, is ready for “any form of diplomacy that delivers real results”.
Nine of a doctor’s 10 children have been killed in an Israeli missile strike on their home in Gaza, which also left her surviving son badly injured and her husband in a critical condition.
Warning: This article contains details of child deaths
Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Clinic in the Nasser Medical Complex, was at work during the attack on her home, south of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on Friday.
Graphic footage shared by the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence shows the bodies of at least seven small children being pulled from the rubble.
Rescuers can be seen battling fires and searching through a collapsed building, shouting out when they locate a body, before bringing the children out one by one and wrapping their remains in body bags.
In the footage, Dr Al Najjar’s husband, Hamdi Al Najjar, who is also a doctor, is put on to a stretcher and then carried to an ambulance.
The oldest of their children was only 12 years old, according to Dr Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza’s health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
Nine children were killed in the strike. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” he wrote in a social media post.
“In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted – Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
British doctors describe ‘horrific’ and ‘unimaginable’ attack
Two British doctors working at Nasser Hospital described the attack as “horrific” and “unimaginable” for Dr Al Najjar.
Speaking in a video diary on Friday night, Dr Graeme Groom said his last patient of the day was Dr Al Najjar’s 11-year-old son, who was badly injured and “seemed much younger as we lifted him on to the operating table”.
Hamdi Al Najjar, Dr Al Najjar’s husband who is also a doctor, was taken to hospital. Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
The strike “may or may not have been aimed at his father”, Dr Groom said, adding that the man had been left “very badly injured”.
Dr Victoria Rose said the family “lived opposite a petrol station, so I don’t know whether the bomb set off some massive fire”.
Pic: Palestinian Civil Defence
‘No political or military connections’
Dr Groom added: “It is unimaginable for that poor woman, both of them are doctors here.
“The father was a physician at Nasser Hospital. He had no political and no military connections. He doesn’t seem to be prominent on social media, and yet his poor wife is the only uninjured one, who has the prospect of losing her husband.”
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Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies
He said it was “a particularly sad day”, while Dr Rose added: “That is life in Gaza. That is the way it goes in Gaza.”
Sky News has approached the Israeli Defence Forces for comment.
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Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began when the militant group stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s military response has flattened large areas of Gaza and killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
World
UN’s Antonio Guterres condemns ‘teaspoon’ of aid allowed into Gaza after dozens die in airstrikes
The head of the UN has said Israel has only authorised for Gaza what amounts to a “teaspoon” of aid after at least 60 people died in overnight airstrikes.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Friday the supplies approved so far “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” adding “the needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering”.
He warned that more people will die unless there is “rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access”.
A woman at the site of an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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Gaza: ‘Loads of children with huge burns’
Israel says around 300 aid trucks have been allowed through since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Monday, but according to Mr Guterres, only about a third have been transported to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
The IDF said 107 vehicles carrying flour, food, medical equipment and drugs were allowed through on Thursday.
Many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine, experts have warned.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight.
Ten people died in the southern city of Khan Younis, and deaths were also reported in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.
A body is carried out of rubble after an Israeli strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
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‘Almost everyone depends on aid’ in Gaza
The latest strikes came a day after two Israeli embassy workers were killed in Washington.
The suspect, named as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, Illinois, told police he “did it for Gaza”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of fuelling antisemitism following the shootings.
The leaders of the UK, France and Canada are “on the wrong side of humanity and (…) history”, he said, after they threatened “concrete action” against Israel this week if it continues its “egregious” military operations in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu also accused Sir Keir, Mr Macron and Mr Carney of siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers”.
Palestinians search for casualties in Jabalia, northern Gaza. Pic: Reuters
But UK government minister Luke Pollard told Sky News on Friday morning he “doesn’t recognise” Mr Netanyahu’s accusation.
Earlier this week, Mr Netanyahu said he was recalling negotiators from the Qatari capital, Doha, after a week of ceasefire talks failed to bring results. A working team will remain.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251 others.
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The militants are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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