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The Alaska pox virus is found primarily in small mammals, such as this vole from Canada and the northern United States
Photo: Michael Penn / AP
The so-called Alaska virus was first discovered in 2015, and since then the authorities have only registered six more cases. Now, for the first time, a person has died after being infected with the Alaska smallpox virus.
He was an elderly man from Alaska's Kenai Peninsula who was weakened by cancer treatment, local health authorities said in a bulletin. The man was admitted to the hospital in November after an infection spread to his skin and he was unable to move his right arm. He died at the end of January.
The Alaskapox virus - like the monkeypox virus - is an orthopoxvirus and is mainly found in smaller mammals such as voles. So far the virus is only known from Alaska. However, exactly how widespread it is and exactly how it is transmitted has not yet been researched. All previously known infections in humans had gone well.
It was also not initially clear how the man who had now died could have become infected. Authorities said he may have become infected from a stray cat.
lki/dpa