ATLANTA — Georgia officially has more than 1,000 of the monkeypox virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 1,013 confirmed cases in the state. That’s the fifth-highest of any state.
This comes as the Department of Public Health has announced that it has launched an online portal to schedule appointments for the monkeypox vaccine.
Monkeypox transmission typically requires skin-to-skin or skin-to-mouth contact with an infected patient’s lesions. People can also be infected through contact with the clothing or bedsheets of someone who has monkeypox lesions.
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It also can be spread through contact with respiratory droplets, but scientists are still trying to figure out how often that happens. British health officials say they haven’t confirmed any instances of airborne transmission.
A large percentage of cases have been among gay and bisexual men. The initial outbreaks in Europe and North America were likely triggered by sex at two raves in Spain and Belgium.
According to the Atlanta-based CDC, 99% of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are men. Of those, 94% reported sexual contact with other men in the three weeks before they developed symptoms.
Still, anyone can catch the virus if they are in close contact with an infected person or fabrics that touched an infected person.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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