Monkeypox Recovery Requires Early Detection and Treatment
When a 40-year-old German man recently complained of a red spot on his nose, a family doctor initially diagnosed him with sunburn.
But when the red dot turned black and began to rot, the man was rushed to the University Hospital in Bonn, where medical staff gave multiple frightening diagnoses.He developed lesions around his mouth and body due to a monkeypox, or MPV, infection confirmed by PCR testing.Several additional tests, including those for sexually transmitted infections, revealed that the man had both advanced HIV and severe syphilis.Due to the confluence of infections, his immune system had been significantly weakened, allowing necrosis or tissue death to occur opportunistically.The German's severe MPV case was documented in the medical journal Infection. "The patient had never been tested for sexually transmitted diseases (STI) before," the report states.The man received TPOXX for seven days, antiretroviral therapy for HIV, and antibiotics for syphilis.The skin lesions have dried out, and some swelling in the nose has subsided, doctors observed.As of yet, most MPV infections have been mild, and people living with controlled HIV do not seem to be at risk of severe illness.
However, in the context of severe immunosuppression and untreated HIV infection, MPV infection may be severe, as the authors wrote in this case.In Houston, Wesley Wallace shared shocking photos of himself with MPV in July.
