For the first time in the US state of Alaska, doctors could not save a patient infected with Alaskapox virus (AKPV). The portal reports this Alaska public media.
According to one version, the old man’s source of infection may have been his pet cat, with which he lived.
The patient had been ill for a long time and was under the care of medical personnel who initially diagnosed him with smallpox, officials said. The symptoms of the disease were consistent with this diagnosis: fever, weakened immune system, enlarged lymph nodes and characteristic red spots.
But when the man died, doctors reviewed his medical history and reanalyzed the results. As a result, traces of the AKPV virus were found in his blood. This virus was discovered in 2015, and before this case, only five people were known to be sick; they all survived. Experts in the field of virology believe that this virus first appeared in cattle, then spread to rodents, and from them to domestic cats.
Last year, The Guardian reported on a possible threat to the global community from ancient viruses found in the permafrost of Siberia. scientists to believethat global warming may lead to unknown diseases.
It was like that before made A discovery that could help combat an ancient virus linked to cancer in human DNA.