New Delhi: Alaska has confirmed the death of an elderly man after he contracted Alaskapox. The man, a native of Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage was undergoing treatment when he succumbed to the illness in late January, health officials have said.
The elderly man earlier tested positive for cowpox, however, additional testing revealed he had contracted Alaskapox as well. He died after suffering from kidney and respiratory failure.
Alaskapox is a double-stranded-DNA virus comes from the same genus as smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox. It was first identified in an adult in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2015, and is most common in small mammals.
