An Italian man was tested positive for Covid-19, monkeypox and HIV all at once in July after he travelled to Spain, reported the Journal of Infection. He was also the first recorded patient to have all these 3 viruses in conjunction.
According to the report, the 36-year-old patient spent 5 days in Spain between 16 June and 20 June this year. Nine days after returning from his trip, he experienced swollen lymph nodes in the groin area, a sore throat, weariness, headache, and a fever that reached 39°C.
On 2 July, his test results came back positive for Covid-19 and within a day, he developed rashes on his left arm. A day later, small, painful blisters appeared on his torso, lower limbs, face and rear.
Due to the spread of the blisters, he decide to go to the emergency room of the Policlinico “G. Rodolico – San Marco” University Hospital in Catania, Italy, where he was later transferred to the Infectious Diseases unit at the hospital.
When asked about his medical history, he said that he was treated for syphilis in 2019 and was HIV-negative. In addition, he had also been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 and had contracted the virus in January 2022.
He then revealed that he had unprotected sex with a number of different partners during his visit to Spain.
On the second day of his admission, he was tested positive for both HIV and monkeypox. The serology test showed that his CD4 lymphocyte count was still average, suggesting that the infection was quite recent.
The man was released from hospital after 7 days.
Meanwhile, the doctors think that there is inadequate data to demonstrate that the combination may worsen the patient’s health because there has only been one case of the three illnesses combined.
However, doctors think that some symptoms of COVID-19 and monkeypox may be similar.
Nonetheless, doctors are still encouraging the public to apply appropriate precautions.
“Given the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the daily increase of monkeypox cases, healthcare systems must be aware of this eventuality, promoting appropriate diagnostic tests in high-risk subjects, which are essential to containment as there is no widely available treatment or prophylaxis (protection),” the report wrote.
