Anchorage, Alaska: Four New Mpox Cases Prompt State Health Advisory

Alaska health officials have announced four new cases of mpox in Anchorage, in a state Department of Health advisory that brings the state to its highest annual case count since 2022.

Three of the patients were diagnosed in October, and a fourth case was confirmed on Thursday, according to Dr. Joe McLaughlin, the Alaska state epidemiologist. All four patients are men. None of them reported traveling outside Alaska in the month before their symptoms began, a break from the pattern of earlier Alaska cases, which were always linked to travel out of state.

Investigators are tracing how the virus reached Anchorage

Two of the four patients are partners. Health officials have not established any other links between the men, and all four are isolating and recovering while investigators work to trace the chain of transmission.

Dr. Randi Rollins, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who is working with the Alaska Department of Health, cautioned that the lack of travel history does not by itself prove the virus is circulating locally. "They may have had exposure to somebody who traveled to Alaska, and they may be the end of that transmission line at this point. We don't know," Rollins said.

Mpox spreads through close contact, including sexual contact. Symptoms usually appear three to 17 days after exposure. The first phase brings fever, chills, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes. A second phase produces firm or tender skin lesions, although some patients develop the rash without the early symptoms. Patients stay infectious until every lesion has healed, a process that usually takes two to four weeks.

Officials urge vaccination for people at higher risk

Health officials are urging people at higher risk to get vaccinated. The vaccine, JYNNEOS, is a two-dose shot that the Food and Drug Administration approved in 2019 to protect against mpox and smallpox. It is available through the Anchorage Health Department and other health care providers in the city.

Uptake in Alaska has been low. State immunization records show 851 Alaskans have received a first dose and 604 have received a second dose since 2022, according to Rollins. With four cases confirmed in Anchorage in a matter of weeks and no travel link among them, officials say vaccination and prompt testing of anyone with an unexplained rash are the fastest ways to stop the chain they are still trying to map.