DUBAI: An Italian man tested positive for COVID-19, monkeypox and HIV simultaneously after returning from a holiday in Spain.
The unnamed 36-year-old underwent a series of tests after developing symptoms including a fever, headache, fatigue, sore throat and large spots, Sky News reported.
Doctors in Italy said he was the first person known to have contracted all three viruses.
Health bodies in the country have been warned to be on the alert for monkeypox occurring in patients at the same time as the coronavirus.
The double-vaccinated man spent five days in Spain from June 16-20. Nine days later he came down with a temperature of 39 degrees Celsius and complained of a sore throat, fatigue, headache and pains in his groin.
On July 2 he tested positive for COVID-19 and later the same day a rash started to develop on his left arm which turned into small, painful spots surrounded by a red ring on his torso, lower limbs, face and bottom.
The spots continued to swell and three days later he went to the emergency department at the University Hospital in Catania, where he was transferred to the infectious diseases unit, and his monkeypox infection was confirmed.
He told doctors that he had been treated for syphilis in 2019 and, although he had taken an HIV test last year which produced a negative result, later tests found him to be positive.
