Small mammals, especially northern red-backed voles, have been found to be infected with Alaskapox, a disease that was not identified until 2015. State health officials reported Friday a man died from the infection in January in the first known fatality associated with the viral disease. (Jim Dau/Alaska Department of Fish and Game)
JUNEAU, Alaska — An elderly man on the Kenai Peninsula has died from Alaskapox, making him the first person to be killed by the viral disease that was identified only nine years ago, state health officials reported Friday.
Aside from being the first fatal human case, it is the documented first human infection outside of the Fairbanks area, indicating that the virus, which is known to be harbored by small mammals, has spread beyond the wildlife populations in that Interior community.
The patient, who had an immune system that was compromised because of treatment for cancer, first reported signs of the infection in September when a tender lesion appeared in his armpit area, according to a bulletin issued by the state Division of Public Health’s epidemiology section.