36yo Italian Man Tests Positive For Covid-19, Monkeypox & HIV After Trip To Spain

Being Covid-19 positive is already hard on the body. Imagine testing positive for 3 types of illnesses at once.

Several Italian physicians described a case study report about a 36-year-old man who tested positive for HIV, monkeypox, and Covid-19 in the Journal of Infection.

According to reports, the patient travelled to Spain for five days between June 16 and June 20, 2022. Nine days later, he experienced swollen lymph nodes in the groin area, a sore throat, weariness, headache, and a fever that reached 39°C.

On July 2, he was found to have Covid-19, and later that day, a rash developed on his left arm. The following day, little, uncomfortable vesicles, also known as blisters, began to emerge on the torso, lower limbs, face and glutes.

The vesicles had grown and transformed into umbilicated pustules by July 5. He then travelled to the Policlinico “G. Rodolico – San Marco” University Hospital’s emergency room in Catania, Italy, where he was later sent to the Infectious Diseases unit.

When questioned about his medical history, he stated that in September 2021, after receiving syphilis treatment in 2019, he was HIV-negative. Additionally, he received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine before developing Covid-19 in January 2022.

He claimed that while visiting Spain, he had unprotected sex with a number of different partners.

On the second day of his stay, he tested positive for both HIV and monkeypox. According to the authors, “considering his intact CD4 level and our patient’s HIV-1 positivity, we may presume that the infection was quite recent.”

After seven days, he was released from the hospital. The entire timeline is available here:

The doctors feel 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.

They do, however, think that some symptoms of COVID-19 and monkeypox may be similar. In the case of co-infection, “anamnestic collection and sexual habits” are crucial information to diagnose a patient properly.

We hope that the man is well on the road to recovery!

Also read: World Health Organization (WHO) Declares Monkeypox A Global Health Emergency