Got a mouth ulcer? It might be Monkey pox, says research

COLOGNE: A little sore ulcer in the corner of the mouth may signal the existence of the Monkeypox virus, as documented by a team of German scientists recently.

In the case study published in the journal 'Deutsches Arzteblatt international' on November 11, Stefan Schlaube and co-authors discuss the case of a 51-year-old HIV-positive patient, who got an ulcer at the corner of his mouth as the first sign of contracting the monkeypox infection.

This added another symptom for the disease, which in its initial stages showed few pronounced signs or symptoms. Only a few skin vesicles could be spotted at first.

The patient visited his general practitioner with a vesicle at the left corner of the mouth that had appeared the day before. He had no clinical signs of infection; his HIV infection had been well controlled for years, both virologically and immunologically, with antiretroviral therapy.

Initially, the patient's ulcer was treated with a topical combination ointment. Within a few days, he developed a painful ulcer at the left corner of his mouth and went back to his general practitioner.

A swab was taken from the ulcer. Testing by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed the monkeypox virus. Subsequently, an increase in monkeypox vesicles was noted on the skin, but also on the palate.

With growing swelling of the base of the tongue and muffled speech, it was decided to admit the patient to a hospital for antiviral treatment with tecovirimat.