New sexually transmitted fungal infection - ringworm - found in NYC marks 1st case in US
New sexually transmitted fungal infection - ringworm - found in NYC marks 1st case in US
Trichophyton mentagrophytes type VII is the latest in a group of severe skin infections to have now reached the United States.
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They made this big to-do just a couple of years ago about renaming monkeypox because they didn't want to offend men who have sex with men, and now here we are with some fungal infection still being called "ringworm".
There's no worm! No parasite of any kind. Really ridiculous name. Also, it can be caused by a number of different fungi, so it's not even really all the same infection.
I believe mpox was, sadly, renamed because racists and their use of “monkey”. I think that was more the issue over men who have sex with men. “Ringworm” isn’t a slur though lol
That hadn't occurred to me. I assumed it was relating gay men to monkeys that was the problem. You're probably right, though.
Yeah I was trying to figure out who the slur would be aimed at... Wrestlers? Worms?
It's not a slur; it's just stigmatizing. "I've got a skin infection" will get a lot less of a negative reaction than "I've got ringworm" would. Parasites give people the heebie jeebies.