Georgia now has 158 monkeypox cases, the fifth-highest number in the country

ATLANTA - At AbsoluteCare, an infectious disease practice in Buckhead, monkeypox has become a hot topic.

Georgia now has 158 confirmed cases of the virus, the fifth-highest number in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Quintin Robinson, an infectious disease specialist, says they are getting dozens of calls a day from people concerned they may have the virus or been exposed to someone with monkeypox disease.

Robinson is treating 4 or 5 of the AbsoluteCare's 15 or so monkeypox patients.

He says their chicken pox-like skin rash can range from mildly uncomfortable to intensely painful.

"One, I talked to yesterday was recently diagnosed and presented, with, like he said over the phone, with severe anal/rectal pain," Robinson says.  "It literally sounded like he was crying over the phone."

Dr. Robinson says the virus has to run its course, but they can offer supportive care like pain medication and topical treatments.

"The unfortunate part is the home isolation, because it's spread with close contact: that's close physical contact, contact with clothing, bed linens, towels," he says.  "They're being recommended to stay at home, in their own separate room, ideally with their own bathroom, and they have to stay in isolation until their lesions completely heal, which can take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks."

Dr. Robinson says most of their patients don't know how they were exposed to monkeypox.

"But, most have traveled a lot, and there have been a few who have been to New York Pride, and some have been to Miami Pride," he says.

MONKEYPOX CASES IN GEORGIA CONTINUE CLIMBING AS STATE DISTRIBUTES LIMITED VACCINES

The Georgia Department of Public Health says most of the state's monkeypox cases are in 5 Metro Atlanta counties, including Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton Counties.

That is where state and county health officials are focusing their contact tracing and vaccine rollout.

As of Friday, the Georgia DPH had about 6,000 doses of JYNNEOS, a smallpox and monkeypox vaccine that can be used to prevent the virus in people who may be at high risk for infection.

The vaccine is given in two doses, spread 28 days apart, so there is only enough to vaccinate about 3,000 people.

"I never want to be the doctor to say don't do something," Dr. Robinson says.  "So, it's the summer, people are, you're going to go to pool parties, you're going to go to nightclubs, you're going to go to these things where you may come in contact with someone, either you brush up against someone's skin when you're moving through a crowd."  

But, Dr. Robinson says be aware of your surrounding, and how this virus is spreading.

"It's that close physical contact: sharing a bed, cuddling, hugging someone, who has an active lesion, that can potentially transmit," he says.

Because the CDC expects infections to rise at least through early August, Robinson says physicians and other providers need to learn more about the clinical signs of monkeypox.

"I would encourage all the health care providers out there in primary care, emergency and urgent care settings just to be aware of what monkeypox looks like, because those patients are going to come through your doors," Dr. Robinson says.