{"id":2213017,"date":"2024-04-04T13:10:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaskapox-being-renamed-to-prevent-stigmatizing-the-state-and-hurting-tourism\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T13:10:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:10:26","slug":"alaskapox-being-renamed-to-prevent-stigmatizing-the-state-and-hurting-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alaskapox-being-renamed-to-prevent-stigmatizing-the-state-and-hurting-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"Alaskapox renamed to avoid stigmatizing state and impacting tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Falaskapox-being-renamed-to-prevent-stigmatizing-the-state-and-hurting-tourism%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2213017&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Epidemiologists are changing the name of Alaskapox to Borealpox to prevent stigma and tourism impact. Discovered in 2015,\u200c the virus caused minimal cases. Symptoms include skin \u200clesions, swollen lymph nodes, and joint pain. The disease \u2063primarily \u200daffects small \u2064mammals, potentially transmitted to humans by pets hunting these creatures. Genetic sequencing and research\u200b have been ongoing since its discovery.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/infectious-disease\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Epidemiologists\">Epidemiologists<\/a> are renaming the disease <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/alaska\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Alaskapox\">Alaskapox<\/a> out of fear that the name of the illness may hamper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tourism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Epidemiologists\">tourism<\/a> and stigmatize the state.<\/p>\n<p>Alaskapox, now called Borealpox, gained media spotlight in January following the abrupt death of an elderly man in the remote Kenai Peninsula after he was hospitalized with the disease last November.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph McLaughlin, Alaska\u2019s state epidemiologist who discovered the virus, told the magazine <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/alaskapox-virus-renamed-avoid-stigmatizing-state-and-hurting-tourism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Science\">Science<\/a><\/em>, \u201cIt became clear that the name Alaskapox could be stigmatizing to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alsakapox was discovered in 2015 when a woman in Fairbanks was treated for a mysterious lesion. She recovered quickly from the condition.<\/p>\n<p>McLaughlin coauthored several papers about the virus since the first case, including identifying its genetic sequence. By the end of 2023, only five very mild cases of the infection had been identified in humans, all of whom had recovered.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/health.alaska.gov\/dph\/Epi\/id\/Pages\/Borealpox.aspx#:~:text=As%20of%20April%202024%2C%20the,disease%20will%20be%20called%20borealpox.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Alaska Department of Health\">Alaska Department of Health<\/a>, symptoms included one or more skin lesions, swollen lymph nodes, and joint and muscle pain. To date, there has been no human-to-human transmission of the disease, but other pox viruses can be spread between humans via direct contact with lesions.<\/p>\n<p>Current data suggest Alaskapox primarily affects small mammals, such as voles and shrews. Domestic pets who hunt these small creatures may play a role in spreading the virus to humans.<\/p>\n<p>The one known person who died this year from the disease was reportedly undergoing cancer treatment and likely had a more severe case of the illness due to his suppressed immune system.<\/p>\n<p>McLaughlin said that when he and his colleagues originally named the virus, the moniker \u201cAlaskapox\u201d \u201cdidn\u2019t raise any red flags\u201d due to the small number of mild cases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had no idea that it would generate so much interest outside of Alaska,\u201d McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have been increasingly sensitive to virus names in recent years, attempting to avoid both technical confusion and offensiveness.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, the World Health Organization announced the change of the name \u201cmonkeypox\u201d to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/28-11-2022-who-recommends-new-name-for-monkeypox-disease\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\" mpox>\u201cmpox\u201d<\/a> amid a global outbreak of the disease that attracted heavy media and political attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the outbreak of monkeypox expanded earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO,\u201d according to the organization at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The virus that causes mpox was discovered first in captive monkeys in 1958. The human variant of the disease was named in 1970.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is too early to tell whether the buzz surrounding Alaskapox has hindered tourism in the Last Frontier.<\/p>\n<p>The Alaska Travel Industry Association <a href=\"https:\/\/alaskapublic.org\/2024\/01\/04\/alaska-tourism-industry-expecting-another-strong-year-led-by-cruise-passengers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"reported\">reported<\/a> that tourism created an economic impact of $5.6 billion in 2022. As of early January, ATIA President Jillian Simpson told <em>Alaska Public Media<\/em> that her organization was still processing 2023 data, but she projected the post-pandemic upward trend had continued.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To prevent negative impacts on tourism and avoid stigmatizing the state, epidemiologists have renamed Alaskapox to Borealpox. The disease garnered attention in January when an elderly man from the Kenai Peninsula succumbed to the illness after being hospitalized in November. This change was driven by concerns surrounding the disease&#8217;s initial moniker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2666,"featured_media":2213018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP21056732525336-1024x768.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP21056732525336-1024x768.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2666"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}