According to reports, a man in Italy tested positive for monkeypox, COVID-19 and HIV all at once after he was down with sore throat, fatigue and headache.
Reports claim the 36-year-old had returned after a trip to Spain and developed symptoms nine days later. He reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 three days after the symptoms first appeared. The man had tested positive for coronavirus earlier in January too, reports said.
After rashes and blisters appeared on his body, health officials conducted tests and he tested positive for monkeypox, COVID-19 and HIV.
Researchers investigating the case revealed in the Journal of Infection that “monkeypox and COVID-19 symptoms may overlap” and that “sexual intercourse could be the predominant way of transmission”. The researchers said the patient’s HIV could be “relatively recent”. He also suffered from bipolar disorder.
The journal said it was the “only reported case of monkeypox virus, SARS-CoV-2 and HIV co-infection”.
The man had spent five days in Spain in June and on July 2 he tested positive for COVID-19. The study revealed he had unprotected intercourse with men during his stay in Spain. Medical tests showed the monkeypox virus belonged to the West African clade which researchers said was responsible for the outbreak in Spain while COVID-19 was “classified by Pangolin as lineage BA.5.1”. The man tested negative for viral hepatitis, herpes simplex and gonorrhoea.
The researchers urged health authorities to be alert on promoting diagnostic tests in high-risk patients since there is no widely available treatment for the diseases while adding that physicians should encourage appropriate precautions.
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