Study: Violent monkeypox virus complications, higher risk of death found in HIV-infected people

(Taiwan English News / Zhu Mingzhu comprehensive foreign report) According to a study published in the journal “The Lancet”, researchers have found a particularly severe monkeypox (Mpox) virus in patients with advanced HIV, which not only has a higher fatality rate , and easily lead to serious complications.

Before April of last year (2022), monkeypox epidemic areas were mainly in West and Central Africa, but since the first local case appeared in the UK on May 7 last year, it has spread rapidly around the world, and the vast majority of infected people are people of the same sex Men who have sex, as of now, at least 110 countries have reported more than 86,000 confirmed cases and 93 deaths; 38-50% of these confirmed cases are also HIV-infected, but most of them are receiving anti-AIDS virus treated and in stable condition.

An international team of clinicians from 19 countries analyzed 382 cases of monkeypox and advanced HIV infection, including deaths at the peak of the epidemic, between May 11, 2022, and January 18, 2023. 27 people with monkeypox.

Researchers have identified a particularly severe form of monkeypox (Mpox) virus in patients with advanced HIV and named it “violent monkeypox virus”, which can cause severe symptoms such as extensive sores on the skin and genitals, and even death. Extensive necrotic lesions in the lungs; the most severe symptoms are usually seen in patients with the lowest counts of white blood cells called CD4 cells.

CD4 cells refer to T lymphocytes with CD4+ T molecules on the surface, which are important immune cells in the human immune system. The CD4 cell number index of normal people is about 800-1200 cells/mm3, but when the HIV virus enters the human body, it will It is carried to the whole body through the blood and destroys CD4 cells in the human immune system. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV infection is diagnosed when the CD4 count is below 200.

Epidemiologist Oriol Mitja called on health authorities to give priority to monkeypox vaccination for “people infected with HIV”, especially in countries where diagnosis and antiviral treatment are not widely available. Chloe Orkin, professor of clinical medicine at Queen Mary University of London, suggested that monkeypox patients should be tested for HIV, and if HIV-infected people are infected with monkeypox, CD4 values ​​must be tested.

Study: HIV-infected people found to be at higher risk of complications, death from violent monkeypox virus