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Chlamydia continues to be the most common infectious disease in Alaska

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Chlamydia continues to be the most common infectious disease in Alaska


FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – The Alaska Department of Health released the 2022 infectious disease report, which includes a list of all infectious diseases recorded in Alaskan residents. The document includes the infection counts of 42 different diseases.

Released nearly a year after counts are collected, the infectious disease report breaks down the statewide and regional rates of infection for Alaska residents, regardless of whether or not the disease was contracted in Alaska.

Diseases with the top ten highest rates of infection in 2022 can be seen in the chart below:

Disease/infection Infections in the interior Statewide infections
Chlamydia 799 5,338
Gonorrhea 416 2,304
Hepatitis C 52 716
Syphilis 45 412
Pneumococcal invasive disease 31 250
G.A.S. invasive disease 23 202
Campylobacteriosis 12 137
Hepatitis B 16 120
Giardiasis 12 97
Tuberculosis 2 95

Among these top ten, the interior was most impacted by the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia, which resulted in nearly 800 interior cases. Chlamydia is spread through skin to skin contact during sex and can even be spread through oral sex. Compared to 2021, chlamydia infections decreased by about 15 percent in the interior and 4 percent statewide.

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Gonorrhea, another STI had the second highest rate of infection for the interior with over 400 cases. This particular infection is spread through semen and vaginal fluids. Both of these STIs are bacterial infections which means they are easily treated with antibiotic medications. Unlike chlamydia, gonorrhea cases increased in the interior between 2021 and 2022. 2022 having 122 more cases than the previous year. Statewide cases were up in 2022 as well.

Hepatitis C had much lower infection rate, but remained the third most common infectious disease in the interior. This particular illness is spread through contact with infected blood and is most commonly transmitted through needles used to take drugs, according to the CDC. This disease is treated with direct-acting antiviral tablets according to the World Health Organization. Hepatitis C cases slightly decreased between 2021 and 2022. In 2021 there were 59 cases of the disease in the interior which went down to 52 cases in 2022. Statewide, there was a mild decrease as well dropping from nearly 800 cases to around 720 cases.

The interior recorded a few unique infections in 2022 that did not occur anywhere else in Alaska. These were Alaskapox, listeriosis and mumps. Each of these cases only seeing one infection all year.

Alaskapox being a virus that belongs to a group of viruses called orthopoxviruses. These viruses infect mammals and cause skin lesions but there is little else known about Alaskapox and treatment is limited due to known variables.

Listeriosis being a foodborne bacterial infection which is treated with antibiotics. According the FDA, the main symptoms are fever, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

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Mumps is a virus that more commonly impacts children and is preventable by vaccine. The main symptoms include swelling and pain in the salivary glands (that produce saliva) and common infection symptoms such as fever, headache and fatigue. Some have even reported pain in the testicles according to John Hopkins Medicine. There is no treatment for mumps but most cases subside after a couple weeks.



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Alaska

Murkowski, a vocal Trump critic, vows to work with him to advance Alaska interests

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Murkowski, a vocal Trump critic, vows to work with him to advance Alaska interests


Republican Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has long been an outspoken critic of President-elect Donald Trump.

She says she never voted for him. Not in 2016, not in 2020, and not this year.

After Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Murkowski said Trump should have resigned the presidency immediately. She was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Trump then vowed to campaign against Murkowski; still, she won reelection in 2022.

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Now, Murkowski says she will work with the Trump administration, setting aside their fraught history.

“At the end of the day, regardless of how a given president feels about me personally or politically, my job, my role is to make sure that Alaska stands to gain, and that’s what I intend to do,” Murkowski said Wednesday.

“I have been able to work with every single president, Republican and Democrat, to advance things that work in Alaska’s best interest. That’s part of my job,” said Murkowski, who met with Alaska news media in her Anchorage office. “You figure out areas that you can work together in. You figure out those areas where you need to push back in.”

Murkowski, like other Alaska politicians, has said that Trump’s policies could be more favorable to resource development projects in Alaska.

One area where she said she expected to push back on a Trump agenda was on the fate of the Affordable Care Act, the law championed by President Barack Obama that Trump tried unsuccessfully to repeal during his first term in office.

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“By then, there had been a growing acceptance and appreciation for how the ACA had allowed so many people who weren’t able to previously receive insurance be able to afford to have it,” said Murkowski.

She said “there may be areas” where she would be willing to consider changes to the law, but she was not open to a wholesale repeal of it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said ahead of Election Day that his caucus would seek to reform the Affordable Care Act if Trump is re-elected. Even congressional inaction during a Trump presidency could impact the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have signaled they may allow major subsidies approved during the Biden presidency to sunset. Those subsidies helped ACA enrollment nearly double in recent years.

Murkowski originally voted against the Affordable Care Act in 2009, then voted against its repeal in 2017.

Murkowski, who voted against the Biden Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, also said she would not support its wholesale repeal. Trump has vowed to repeal parts of the bill.

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“There are many aspects of the IRA that are legitimately issues that may be worthy of review. But it’s not unlike what we saw with the ACA, where once the law was in place, you started to see the benefits play out from it,” said Murkowski. She said those include tax provisions that have led companies to invest in microchip manufacturing and green energy technologies.

“People are saying, ‘Well, not sure that I liked what got us here, but I like what’s happening now, so don’t get rid of this,’” said Murkowski.

“Oftentimes it just doesn’t make sense to unspool it all,” said Murkowski.

• • •





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In Depth: Gov. Dunleavy discusses Trump victory, Alaska energy, ranked-choice voting

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In Depth: Gov. Dunleavy discusses Trump victory, Alaska energy, ranked-choice voting


Less than one day after Donald Trump’s historic win over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy sat down with Alaska’s News Source political reporter Steve Kirch to discuss the electoral win, his own election night experience, what Trump’s victory means to Alaska and the state’s energy resource needs, and how his role as governor might change in the future.



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Goodbye to Alaska, hello to Lower 48 for nation’s Capitol Christmas tree in Washington state

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Goodbye to Alaska, hello to Lower 48 for nation’s Capitol Christmas tree in Washington state


Members of the Alaska National Guard say that in being part of a Klatt Elementary assembly, students will end up deciding to say no to drug and tobacco products.
The assembly — which also featured representatives from the American Lung Association, Drug Enforcement Administration, Anchorage Police Department and Alaska State Troopers — also delivered an anti-bullying message.
What would end up being a surprise for the students Monday came as school leaders wrapped up Red Ribbon Week, the longest-running drug and violence prevention program in the United States.



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