CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two Wake County women have been diagnosed with monkeypox, a virus that has exclusively been diagnosed in North Carolinian men up until this point, county public health officials announced Thursday.
Although the vast majority of monkeypox cases have been in men who have sex with men, health officials have long emphasized that the virus can spread to anyone in close contact with an infectious rash, respiratory secretions or skin-to-skin contact.
The source of that contact is often kissing, cuddling or sex, according to a news release from Wake County Public Health.
