Rome: The first known case of a person testing positive for COVID-19, monkeypox and HIV all at once has been reported from Italy.
According to a report in the Mail Online, a 36-year-old Italian man spent five days in Spain in June this year. By his own admission, he had unprotected sex with multiple men during his stay in Spain.
Days after returning home, he tested COVID-positive on July 2, the report said, citing a case study in the Journal of Infection.
He developed a rash on his left arm the same afternoon. And the next day, small cyst-like boils appeared on his torso, lower limbs, face and glutes.
By July 5, the boils and rashes had spread and evolved into small bumps on the skin.
The alarmed man then visited San Marco University Hospital in Catania, where he was treated in the infectious diseases unit.
Multiple tests, including those for sexually transmitted infections, revealed that he had contracted HIV-1. It was 10 months after he returned a negative test for the disease.
The 36-year-old Italian was discharged from hospital on July 11, after recovering from COVID-19 and monkeypox, and advised to isolate at home as his skin lesions had started to heal.
“The case highlights how monkeypox and COVID-19 symptoms may overlap, and corroborates how, in the case of co-infection, anamnestic collection and sexual habits are crucial to perform the correct diagnosis,” a study by researchers of University of Catania said.
“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 study added.
