“This virus is common in animals living in certain areas. Alaskan smallpox, literally translated, is the animal smallpox virus, which was first discovered in Alaska,” said Andrei Pozdniakov.
It was first identified in 2015, and already in 2019, specialists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (Georgia) and the Alaska Department of Public Health Epidemiology in Anchorage published a transcript of the virus genome and the results of a detailed investigation. of all cases of infection.
“All the patients lived in wooded, sparsely populated areas with cow pastures. None of them were related, did not know each other or had met. Three patients had cats at home. At least one of them hunted rodents frequently,” they point out. the authors of the study. reported.
Scientists set traps in places where infected people lived and captured various small wild animals, mostly rodents. Alaskan smallpox has been discovered in voles. Shrews and squirrels have antibodies produced by the animal’s body to provide immunity to disease.
The research results gave experts reason to believe that a virus similar to cowpox was transmitted from cattle to rodents living in pastures. From them, the infection spread to domestic cats, who, in turn, infected their owners.
The investigation continues: scientists went to the Museum of the North of the United States in search of samples of frozen tissues of small mammals and rodents that lived in the state in different historical periods. Viruses can survive frozen for hundreds of years. Analysis of tissue samples from museums can help scientists determine more precise details about the origins of Alaska smallpox. This may not be a new infection, but rather a representative of an ancient branch of smallpox, the researchers say.
“Today there is no reason to say that the identified pathogen represents a great danger to people. In all documented cases, the disease passed without serious complications. However, it cannot be said that patient zero was registered in 2015. “It is likely that other patients simply did not go to the doctor. Even those who were confirmed to have the virus initially mistook the pockmarks for an insect bite and regarded the disease as an allergy or a common ailment,” the scientists reported. .
“This virus is probably transmitted through contact with wild animals. To date, a small number of confirmed cases of infection are known, if I am not mistaken, no more than 10,” Dr. Pozdnyakov noted.
The expert highlighted that the first death was recorded in a patient with immunodeficiency. In most cases, people were mildly ill.
“This is a typical “zoonosis”, that is, a disease of wild animals that can potentially be transmitted to a person with a weakened immune system, but, of course, not through airborne droplets. Most likely, that the infection is transmitted by contact. “It is difficult to know what will happen with this virus and how it will mutate,” emphasizes the expert.
What are the symptoms of Alaskan smallpox infection?
“It is a slight increase in temperature, not at high values, in addition, there is an increase in lymph nodes and the appearance of a rash,” said the infectious disease specialist.
Meanwhile
Orthopoxviruses are also being studied in Russia; In particular, the Murmansk virus line is mentioned in medical literature.
“Experts do not rule out that, as a result of the mutation of one of the animal orthopoxviruses, a pathogen similar to the variola virus will appear. At the same time, the world will face a much more serious threat than that of “pigs” or “birds.” “Flu.” Modern scientific and methodological approaches to the study of the evolution of orthopoxvirus infections allow us to predict modern threats,” says the publication of a group of Russian scientists led by academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Onishchenko. (Publication 2020).
However, at the moment, as Rospotrebnadzor reported today, Alaskan smallpox does not pose an epidemic threat. The chances of it reaching our country are extremely low.
