As health officials in the US state of Alaska confirm the first known death linked to a recently discovered virus called Alaskapox, doctors believe the elderly man, who became the first casualty, could have contracted the infection from a stray cat.
The authorities said in a release issued last week that the man, hailing from the remote Kenai Peninsula, was hospitalised in November last year and died in late January. The bulletin added that the man was "the first case of severe Alaskapox infection resulting in hospitalisation and death".
The bulletin did not identify the man or give his age but said was undergoing cancer treatment and had a suppressed immune system because of the drugs. This may have contributed to the severity of his illness, the bulletin said. "The man who died resided alone in a forested area and reported no recent travel and no close contacts with recent travel, illness, or similar lesions," it added.
Though it is not clear how AKPV is transmitted, experts believe it may have jumped from animals to humans. However, the bulletin added that the man said he had cared for a stray cat at his home.
Though the cat tested negative for the virus, it is said to have regularly hunted small mammals and frequently scratched the patient. There could be a possibility that the cat had the virus on its claws when it scratched him. The man also has a notable scratch near the armpit area where the first symptom – a red lesion – was seen.
The virus was first discovered in 2015 and since then seven infections have been reported.
Belonging to the orthopoxvirus genus which includes better-known viruses such as smallpox and mpox, Alazkapoz regularly infects red-backed voles and shrews as well as other rodents like red squirrels throughout Alaska.
The symptoms are often mild and the infections are rare in humans. "Six of the seven cases have been mild and self-limited, so the patient didn’t even need to get any supportive care from a health care provider," Dr. Joe McLaughlin, state epidemiologist and chief of the Alaska Section of Epidemiology at the Alaska Department of Health, told CNN. "It’s very possible that this virus has been present in Alaska for hundreds, if not thousands, of years," he said.
He added that more Alaskapox cases coming to light does not mean the virus has become more prevalent in the state’s small mammal population in recent years. "What has changed is clinician awareness and the general public’s awareness that Alaskapox virus is something that’s a possibility," McLaughlin said. "It’s possible that cases occurred prior to 2015 and were just subclinical or mildly clinical and just were not diagnosed."