Italian Man Tests Positive For COVID, Monkeypox, HIV On Same Day
Everyone has bad days, but if you want to complain about being late for work or spilling coffee on your pants, maybe don't do it in front of this guy. An unidentified Italian man was diagnosed with HIV, monkeypox, and COVID all on the same day.
This is virology's version of hitting for the cycle.
The 36-year-old managed to catch all of those viruses on a trip to Spain where he had unprotected sex with other men, according to the Journal of Infection. Nine days after returning home, the man started to experience symptoms which included a sore throat, fatigue and a headache.
The man tested positive for COVID, then later that day started developing a rash on his left arm.
A few days later, he returned to the hospital. Tests revealed he was still positive for COVID as well as the monkeypox virus and HIV to complete the hat trick.
Send some positive vibes to that fella, because that's a tough break. Maybe send some to the doctor who had to tell him about the tests. That's a tough spot for the doctor too. They probably took some deep breaths before delivering the one-in-a-billion diagnosis. "Hey, you're not going to believe this, but..."
The patient has provided researchers with a little bit of information on how these viruses interact with each other. However, with so few subjects to gather information from — not that they're hoping for more — researchers won't gather much.
Researchers did note that COVID, monkeypox, and HIV often present similar symptoms which can make them difficult to differentiate from each other.
Here's to a speedy recovery for the unidentified Italian man.
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