Your mouth ulcer can be monkeypox too?

According to a recent study, a little painful ulcer in the corner of the mouth may indicate the presence of the Monkeypox virus. Stefan Schlaube and co-authors examine the case of a 51-year-old HIV-positive patient who developed an ulcer at the corner of his mouth as the first symptom of monkeypox infection in a case study published in the journal ‘Deutsches Arzteblatt international’ on November 11. This introduced another symptom to the illness, which had few apparent indications or symptoms in its early stages. At initially, just a few skin vesicles were visible.

The patient presented to his primary care physician with a vesicle in the left corner of his mouth that had emerged the day before. He had no clinical indications of infection, and his HIV infection had been effectively managed for years with antiretroviral medication, both virologically and immunologically.

The patient’s ulcer was initially treated with a topical combination ointment. He returned to his general practitioner after developing a severe ulcer in the left corner of his mouth. A swab of the ulcer was collected. The monkeypox virus was validated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Following that, an increase in monkeypox vesicles was seen not just on the skin, but also on the palate.

With swelling at the base of the tongue and muffled speech, the patient was admitted to the hospital for antiviral treatment with tecovirimat.