Monkeypox patient’s rotting nose mistaken for sunburn

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A German patient with monkeypox has a rotting nose after the initial red spot was believed to be a sunburn.

The 40-year-old unidentified man had the red spot checked out by his doctor, who dismissed it as a sunburn.

A few days later, the lesion began to turn black and pus-filled sores began to show up all over his body, according to a report in the medical journal Infection.

It was determined that the patient had monkeypox and was given antivirals.

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The man had never before been tested for sexually transmitted diseases but doctors soon discovered that in addition to his severe monkeypox infection, he was suffering from an undiagnosed advanced HIV infection as well as syphilis.

The syphilis had been undetected for so long, it spread to multiple organs; his HIV infection had developed into AIDS.

The STD meds he was given – for the HIV infection and another for syphilis – helped dry out the lesions on his body. His nose, however, only partially improved but there is less swelling.

“Most cases of MPXV (monkeypox) infection so far have been reported as mild and controlled HIV infection does not appear to be a risk factor for severe courses,” according to study authors Christoph Boesecke, Malte B. Monin, Kathrin van Bremen, Stefan Schlabe and Christian Hoffmann.

“However, this case illustrates the potential severity of MPXV infection in the setting of severe immunosuppression and untreated HIV infection.”

It is unknown what the Germany patient’s status is now.

Germany has seen its total number of reported monkeypox cases hit 3,186 but the number of cases in August have been trending downward, The Local Germany reported.

The number of confirmed cases in Canada is 1,112 and 38,452 cases worldwide, according to the Health Canada.