DOUBLE DOSE
California man reveals he had Covid & monkeypox at the SAME TIME with symptoms leaving him in bed over ‘weeks of misery’
A CALIFORNIAN man has revealed he had Covid and monkeypox at the same time - and his symptoms left him in bed during "weeks of misery."
Mitcho Thompson, of Northern California, recently tested positive for Covid-19 and monkeypox at the same time, according to
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The Sebastopol man said he started noticing red wounds across his body shortly after testing positive for Covid.
He spoke with NBC Bay Area earlier this week, explaining how he discovered lesions on his body on his legs, arms, back, and neck - and that was when he realized he might have monkeypox.
"The doctor was very certain that I have monkeypox and that I had both," he told the news outlet.
"That was the question. Could I get them at the same time? And he said, ‘Yes, yes, yes.'"
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Thompson noted that he felt "really sick" and recounted the "worst of it" was when he could "barely" get out of bed or a drink of water.
He referred to the time frame he was sick as "weeks of misery" because it felt like he had a really bad flu.
However, Thompson was feeling much better at the time of the interview with NBC Bay Area.
Dr Dean Winslow, a Stanford University professor of medicine who also spoke with the news outlet, said getting Covid at the same time as monkeypox is very rare but possible.
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The infectious diseases specialist said: "It's certainly not impossible for that to occur.
"It's just incredibly bad luck. They are very different viruses."
Most monkeypox cases that Winslow has come across were spread through skin-to-skin contact, he told the news outlet, noting that Covid is transmitted more easily.
The news comes as monkeypox cases continue to rise in the US with new infections detected, data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
The latest update by the CDC brings the nation's total cases to 2,323, just months after the first US case was detected.
The US confirmed its first case of in a traveler who returned to from on May 17.
has been struck the hardest with 581 confirmed cases, followed by with 356 and and with 208.
Anyone can get the illness - more so if you have been in contact or had sexual contact with someone with symptoms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released about how to identify monkeypox during the outbreak.
Traditionally, people with monkeypox have developed a fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches and muscle aches.
The symptoms are followed by a rash that starts on their face or mouth and then spreads to other parts of their body - particularly the hands and feet.
However, in some recent cases, patients first experienced a rash in the mouth or around the genitals or anus.
And instead of widespread rashes, some patients saw scattered or localized lesions in areas other than the face, hands, or feet.
At times, flu-like symptoms developed after the rash, but other people didn't have those symptoms at all.
Scientists have warned of unusual symptoms in US patients that were not previously associated with the virus.
Some patients reported pain in or around the anus and rectum, rectal bleeding, proctitis (painful inflammation of the rectum lining), or the feeling of needing a bowel movement even though the bowels are empty.
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Monkeypox comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox.
Most people recover from monkeypox within weeks, but the disease is fatal for up to 1 in 10 people, according to the World Health Organization.
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