A 40-year-old man from Germany with a severe case of monkey pox tested positive for HIV.
The 40-year-old went to see his doctor after a painful red spot appeared on his nose. Doctors dismissed it as a sunburn. The man soon noticed that wasn’t the case when he developed a lesion on the nose, and it began to rot.
When the unidentified man went back to the doctor, he was diagnosed with monkey pox. He developed pus-filled sores all over his body, which were severe around his genitals and mouth. The man was hospitalized, and once doctors did further tests, he was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted diseases including syphilis and HIV.
The 40-year-old man did not have the sexually transmitted disease before the money pox and by the time it was detected syphilis had already spread to multiple organs.
Doctors gave the man antiretroviral pills twice a day to reduce the amount of HIV infection in his bloodstream. He was also given ceftriaxone through an IV drip for ten days to treat the syphilis.
The medication helped the money pox sores dry out, but the condition of his nose had only improved some. It had already started to die and had turned black.
The man’s monkeypox infection became severe as HIV left him immunocompromised and susceptible to necrosis, according to doctors.
“Most cases of (monkeypox) infection so far have been reported as mild, and controlled HIV infection does not appear to be a risk factor for severe courses. However, this case illustrates the potential severity of (monkeypox) infection in the setting of severe immunosuppression and untreated HIV infection,” doctors said.
