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Severe form of mpox identified in advanced HIV cases: study

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Agence France Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles (orange) cultivated and purified from cell culture. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/08/22/20220822-monkeypox.jpg"/><figcaption>Colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles (orange) cultivated and purified from cell culture. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. <em>Credit: NIAID/file</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>PARIS, France - Researchers said Tuesday they have identified a particularly severe form of mpox in people with advanced HIV which had a death rate of 15 percent among patients with AIDS.</p><p>Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, has long been endemic in several African countries but started spreading across the world last May, overwhelmingly affecting men who have sex with men.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/08/17/22/fact-check-hindi-totoong-airborne-ang-monkeypox">FACT CHECK: ‘Di totoong itinuturing ng CDC na airborne ang monkeypox</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/08/17/22/monkeypox-in-kids-rare-but-potentially-dangerous">Monkeypox in kids is rare but infections can be serious</a></li></ul><p>More than 85,800 mpox cases, including 93 deaths, have since been reported across 110 countries, according to the World Health Organization.</p><p>Between 38-50 percent of the global mpox patients were also living with HIV, according to a new study published in the Lancet journal.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2157131" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>For the study, an international team of clinicians looked at 382 people with both HIV and mpox from 19 countries. That number included 27 people who died of the disease -- more than a quarter of the total toll during the global outbreak.</p><p>The clinicians identified a particularly extreme form of the disease, which they called &quot;fulminant mpox&quot;, that affected people with advanced HIV or AIDS. Symptoms include massive, necrotising lesions on the skin, genitals, and sometimes even lungs. </p><p>The worst lesions and other symptoms were often seen in the patients with the lowest count of a type of white blood cell called CD4 cells.</p><p>HIV destroys CD4 cells, which are used as an indicator for the health of a patient&#x27;s immune system.</p><p>A healthy person without HIV should have a CD4 count above 500 cells per cubic millimetre of blood.</p><p>People are diagnosed with AIDS when their CD4 count drops below 200, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p><p>The severe form of mpox resulted in the death of 15 percent of patients with a CD4 count below 200, which included all 27 fatalities, the study said, emphasising that the sample size was small.</p><div><strong> &#x27;Significant threat&#x27; </strong></div><p>People using antiretroviral therapy for their HIV often have a higher CD4 count than 200, suggesting that people most at risk of this severe form of mpox were unlikely to be receiving treatment.</p><p>The study&#x27;s first author, Oriol Mitja of Spain&#x27;s Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, said in a statement that health authorities should prioritise mpox vaccines for &quot;people living with HIV, particularly in countries with low levels of diagnosis or without universal free access to antiretroviral treatment&quot;. </p><p>The researchers also called for this severe form of mpox to be added to the list of &quot;AIDS-defining conditions&quot; maintained by international public health agencies, which helps doctors identify which infections could be most dangerous for people living with HIV.</p><p>Matthew Hodson, executive director of UK-based charity NAM Aidsmap, said the study showed that despite a drop-off in mpox numbers across much of the globe, the disease remains a &quot;significant threat&quot; for people with advanced HIV.</p><p>dl/cw</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Q18EDh88KE?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Researchers said Tuesday they have identified a particularly severe form of mpox in people with advanced HIV which had a death rate of 15 percent among patients with AIDS.