According to the first major study of Mpox in this population it can be fatal for up to 1 in 4 people with severely weakened immune systems and can have a devastating effect on people with advanced HIV infections. The analysis included 382 people from 28 nations, all of whom were HIV-positive and had a count below 350 of key immune cells called CD4 cells, which help ward off infections. Twenty-seven of these individuals died.
Orkin, who also presented her findings at the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, pushed for people with advanced HIV to be prioritized for mpox vaccination globally. She and her co-authors have also called for the CDC and WHO to designate mpox an AIDS-defining condition when the infection leads to necrosis, or the death of tissue, among HIV-positive individuals.