The first person to test positive for monkeypox, Covid, and HIV at the same time is an Italian male.
Nine days after returning from a trip to Spain earlier this year, a 36-year-old Italian man started to experience a number of symptoms, including fatigue, fever, and a sore throat.
The unnamed man acknowledged to having unprotected sex with men while spending five days in Spain from June 16 to 20, 2022.
The individual had a positive Covid test on July 2, according to a case study report that appeared in the Journal of Infection.
On his left arm, a rash began to appear in the late afternoon of the same day. The next day the man’s face, glutes, lower limbs, and chest developed tiny, painful vesicles surrounded by a rash.
The man went to the emergency room at the San Marco University Hospital in Catania, Italy on July 5 after the vesicles had expanded and developed into pustules, which are tiny bumps on the skin, and was then moved to the infectious diseases unit.
He was examined there and given a positive monkeypox test result.
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The patient underwent repeated STI screenings as well. He tested positive for HIV-1, and the researchers speculated that the infection may have been recent given his intact CD4 count.
In September 2021, the patient took an HIV test, and the results were negative.
The patient was returned home to isolate on July 11 after he or she recovered from Covid-19 and monkeypox.
His skin sores had crusted over and healed by this point, leaving a faint scar.
‘This case highlights how monkeypox and Covid-19 symptoms may overlap, and corroborates how in case of co-infection, anamnestic collection and sexual habits are crucial to perform the correct diagnosis,’ the researchers, from the University of Catania, said in their case report.
‘To note, the monkeypox oropharyngeal swab was still positive after 20 days, suggesting that these individuals may still be contagious for several days after clinical remission,’ the report said.
‘Consequently, physicians should encourage appropriate precautions.’
The researchers went on to say that there was just one incidence of monkeypox virus, SARS-CoV-2, and HIV co-infection, therefore there was still insufficient proof that the three infections could worsen the patient’s condition.
‘Given the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the daily increase of monkeypox cases, healthcare systems must be aware of this eventuality.’
