Flesh-eating mpox virus more deadly for those with HIV: study

A new study has found that the flesh-eating mpox virus is particularly deadly for people living with HIV.

Mpox — previously known as “monkeypox” before it was renamed last November amid concerns of racism — infected thousands of people last year, prompting a “public health emergency.”

Now, a new study published in the Lancet has determined that the deadly virus has a harrowing impact on those with advanced HIV.

Previous research from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that approximately 38% of people infected with mpox also had HIV, meaning that the new study is significant.

“Currently, there is a list of fourteen infections which behave differently and are particularly dangerous to immunosuppressed people with advanced HIV infection,” Professor Cloe Orkin, from Queen Mary University of London, told The Sun about the new study.

“These are called ‘AIDS-defining conditions’ by international public health agencies,” continued Orkin, who was one of the study’s authors, adding that clinicians use such a classification to “guide their management of people most at risk of dying.”

She argued that the mpox virus should be categorized as such, due to its “opportunistic” nature.

The study analyzed the data of 382 people who were diagnosed with mpox while also living with HIV or a CD4 cell count of less than 350 cells mm (an indicator of HIV). It included 27 patients who died from mpox infection.

Researchers found that those with mpox and advanced HIV or CD4 counts of less than 100 cells per mm were more likely to experience severe illness and complications. They reported skin lesions, lung problems, secondary infections and even sepsis.

The patients who died had CD4 counts of less than 200 cells per mm, with more deaths reported amongst patients with “high HIV viral load.”

At the time of mpox’s height, a limited number of vaccines for the lesion-causing virus were provided to those at higher risk of exposure.

38.4 million people live with HIV, according to data from 2021, and there is currently on cure for the lethal disease. While there is antiretroviral therapy (ART) available to curb the progression of the virus, there is still no suitable vaccine.

In fact, a vaccination trial was halted earlier this year due to providing inadequate protection from the virus, which researchers have been studying for decades in an attempt to find a remedy.

On Monday, researchers announced that a third patient was reportedly “cured” of the virus with a risky stem cell transplant. His breakthrough recovery also makes him the fifth person ever to be cured of HIV.