A man in Italy tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox and HIV all at once in July after having unprotected sex during a trip to Spain, becoming the first recorded patient to have these three viruses in conjunction, according to a new case report published in the Journal of Infection last week.
By TZVI JOFFRE – The Jerusalem Post
Monkeypox is spread through close contact with infectious material from skin lesions, objects contaminated with the virus, seminal fluids and secretions from the throat. Most of the cases recorded in the most recent wave of infection have been reported among men who had sex with men.
The patient in the case report, an Italian 36-year-old male, spent five days in Spain in June. Nine days after returning home from his trip, he developed a fever, sore throat, fatigue, headache and inflammation in his groin area. Shortly afterward, he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and within a day he developed a rash on his left arm. The day after, small, painful blisters appeared on his torso, lower limbs, face and rear.
Due to the spread of the blisters that began to evolve into pustules with a depression in the middle of them, he decided to go to the emergency room of the Policlinico “G. Rodolico – San Marco” University Hospital in Catania, Italy and was transferred to the Infectious Diseases unit at the hospital.
After being admitted, the patient reported that he had unprotected sex with men during his stay in Spain. He was tested for monkeypox and tested positive for the West African variant of the virus, which has been found to be responsible for the outbreak in Spain. Even after 20 days, monkeypox tests continued to return positive, with the physicians stressing that this could mean that patient may remain contagious for several days after clinical remission.