Man is diagnosed with Covid, monkeypox, and HIV all at once
A 36-year-old Italian man was the first to test positive for the Covid-19 pandemic and was also confirmed to be HIV positive, causing widespread panic around the world.
According to a study published in the Journal of Infection, the unlucky individual’s fever, sore throat, and headaches began nine days after he returned from a trip to Spain during which he had unprotected sex with other men.
His day began with a positive Covid-19 test, and a few hours later he began to break out in “small, painful” blisters all over his body. This drove him to go to the emergency department.
The unnamed Italian guy, who sought medical attention on July 16 for symptoms of Covid-19 and monkeypox, was diagnosed with HIV on July 16, despite having tested negative for the virus in September, as the report indicates.
Since this is the only documented instance of triple coinfection with monkeypox, SARS-CoV-2, and HIV, the Journal of Infection states that more research is needed before concluding that the patient’s condition was made worse by the three viruses.
The instance provides evidence, according to the researchers, that sexual contact may be the most common means of spreading monkeypox, so they advise conducting a thorough check for infections after the onset of symptoms.
The case study of the Italian man with a history of syphilis continues, “In fact, our patient tested positive for HIV-1 and, given his preserved CD4 count, we could assume that the infection was relatively recent,”
In addition to the over 42,000 confirmed cases and 12 deaths documented globally, the rapid spread across 98 countries suggests that many more viral illnesses will occur.