man in California He says he has COVID and monkeypox At the same time in the first known case in America.
Micho Thompson, a cannabis seller in Sebastopol, tested positive for the pandemic virus in late June after feeling ‘eliminated’. Days later, red lesions appeared on his back, legs, arms and neck, and he said doctors had diagnosed monkeypox.
Thompson was bedridden for weeks because difficulty breathing and chills made him barely able to get up for water.
It’s possible for someone to have both viruses simultaneously, said Dr. Dean Winslow, an infectious disease expert at Stanford University. He said Thompson had “very bad luck”.
It comes as the death toll from monkeypox in America rose to 2,593 – the second highest in the world, right after Spain, which has 3,125 cases.
Micho Thompson, a cannabis seller in Sebastopol, says he contracted COVID and monkeypox at the same time. He is pictured above at home
He tested positive for COVID in late June after feeling the weather. But a few days later, wounds appeared on his back, legs, arms and neck, which doctors diagnosed as monkeypox.
Thompson – who also has a pet cat – revealed his diagnosis of both diseases during an interview NBC Bay Area.
He told the announcer, “It was COVID in the beginning, and that made it really weird because I didn’t really realize I had monkeypox until it started breaking out. [in lesions].
The doctor was very certain that I had monkeypox and that I had both.
That was the question, could I have them both at the same time, and he said “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” “
Thompson said both viruses left him feeling “really sick.”
“And the worst of it honestly was that I could barely get out of bed, and you could barely get a drink of water.”
COVID infection causes flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, and muscle aches.
Monkeypox infection also causes these warning signs in the early stages, which then develop into a rash that spreads throughout the body.
Thompson said he tested positive for COVID, and ruled out the possibility that his flu symptoms were a result of monkeypox.
It was not clear how Thompson contracted monkeypox or COVID, or what treatments he received.
Health authorities are providing antivirals such as Baxlovid to Covid patients to help fight infection, and vaccines for those who test positive for monkeypox which they say can reduce symptoms.
Asked if it was possible to catch COVID and monkeypox at the same time, Winslow said: ‘It’s definitely not impossible for that to happen, it’s just, you know, very bad luck.
But they are very different viruses.
Monkeypox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox.
“One of the good little things about monkeypox is that it is transmitted almost exclusively by very close contact and not necessarily sexual contact but certainly very close contact.”
Monkeypox belongs to the orthopox family of viruses, which tend to trigger rashes in those who become infected.
COVID, on the other hand, is part of the family of Coronaviruses – which got their name because of the thorny proteins that surround them ‘like a crown’.
Another key difference is that COVID is primarily transmitted through droplets that are expelled into the air, whereas monkeypox only does so in very rare cases, when there is “ongoing” face-to-face contact.
It came as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) insisted that America still had a “chance” to contain monkeypox.
Dr. Rochelle Walinsky claimed in an interview on Friday that the government’s response is getting stronger every day.
“I think we still have a chance to contain this,” she said.
But her comments came as the number of cases in the United States climbed to the second highest rate globally, and after other experts warned the disease was now likely out of control.
America’s response to the outbreak has been slow from the start, taking weeks for the CDC to start and run testing.
In the early days of the outbreak, fewer than 100 people per day were carrying out.
The federal government has also been criticized for failing to quickly roll out vaccines, which public health experts say would have helped slow the spread of the virus.
.
