It is a 36-year-old man who presented himself to the emergency room of the Catania hospital on 5 July. His case was described in a scientific journal. was discharged after a week
been described
on Journal of Infection
the first case of a co-infection in a patient of SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox e Hiv. It is a 36-year-old Italian who came to the emergency room of the Catania hospital on 5 July.
The history of the hospitalization
The man developed fever, sore throat and headache, fatigue and inflammation of the groin area 9 days after returning from a trip to Spain, where she said she had unprotected sex with men. Researchers from the University and the Polyclinic Rhodolico – San Marco di Cataniatogether with colleagues from the polyclinic Palermo jacket they reconstructed the history of infections: three days after the first symptoms the man tested positive for Covid (which he had already contracted in January 2022); in the afternoon of the same day, a rash began to develop on his left arm which then spread. Three days later, the 36-year-old decided to go to the hospital where he was hospitalized. The man told doctors he was treated for syphilis in 2019 but tested negative for HIV in September 2021. In hospital he tested positive for monkeypox, HIV and coronavirus. variant BA.5. On the third day of hospitalization, almost all skin lesions began to crust, and on day 5, almost all of the symptoms resolved. The patient was discharged into home isolation.
The contagion
This case highlights how the symptoms of monkeypox and COVID-19 can overlap and corroborates that in the case of co-infection, anamnestic collection and sexual habits are crucial to making the correct diagnosis, the study authors write and add: that the monkeypox oropharyngeal swab was still positive after 20 dayssuggesting that these individuals may still be contagious for several days after clinical remission.
There are three ways in which you can be exposed to sufficient amounts of the virus to become infected (we have covered this in detail here): direct skin-to-skin contact with lesions caused by the virus, contact with contaminated objects, and close contact with respiratory secretions such as saliva of a person with lesions in the mouth or throat. Two recent studies, however, have also focused on two rare possibilities, but which can help to clarify the peculiarities of transmission of the virus: the presence of asymptomaticwhich would make it more difficult to stem the chain of infections and contact transmission to a crowded event without sexual intercourse (a related article here).
What therapies are there
Since this theonly reported case of co-infection with monkeypox virus, SARS-CoV-2 and HIV, there is not yet sufficient evidence to support this combination could aggravate the conditions of the patient, conclude the authors of the study on the patient described in Catania.
Currently there is a vaccine against monkeypox and is offered in Italy to high-risk categories identified by the ministry. The Inmi Spallanzani of Rome is (among other research institutes that are doing it) probing the immunological memory of people previously vaccinated against human smallpox
. Preliminary data indicate that over 90% of people who were vaccinated more than 40 years ago have antibodies that react with the monkeypox virus, sometimes even in large quantities.
And specific treatment (tecovirimat) for smallpox human is being given to hospital patients with monkeypox and the approval process for this specific virus has now begun.
August 24, 2022 (change August 24, 2022 | 15:02)
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