Alaska health officials have confirmed a second human infection with a novel orthopoxvirus dubbed 'Alaskan pox.' Transmitted by small mammals and confined to this U.S. region, it poses no immediate pandemic threat amid ongoing COVID-19 challenges.
As the COVID-19 pandemic surpasses 36.6 million infections and over a million deaths worldwide, emerging viruses continue to draw attention. On October 1, 2020, the Anchorage Daily News reported a new case in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaska Department of Health issued a bulletin detailing this second instance of 'Alaskan pox,' following a first case from 2015 documented in a 2017 Clinical Infectious Diseases publication.
The latest patient developed a small lesion on her upper arm, followed by erythema days later. She experienced additional symptoms including lymphadenopathy, fatigue, shoulder pain, and nocturnal fever.
Laboratory biopsy of the lesion confirmed an orthopoxvirus matching the 2015 case. Orthopoxviruses are double-stranded DNA viruses from the Chordopoxviridae family, capable of infecting vertebrates like humans. They cause anything from benign skin lesions to severe diseases such as smallpox.
While related to the smallpox virus, 'Alaskan pox' appears far less severe. In this patient, shoulder pain resolved after two weeks and the lesion after six weeks—unlike the 2015 case, which lasted six months.
Experts attribute transmission to small mammals. The patient owns two cats that may have encountered such animals, though she reported no direct wildlife contact. The 2015 patient kept a dozen small mammals at home, none testing positive for the virus.
The exact human transmission pathway remains unclear but likely involves local Alaskan wildlife. With a five-year gap between cases, authorities view infections as rare and occasional. Recommendations include avoiding contact with wild animals or their droppings and practicing regular hand hygiene.
