1y ago

New sexually transmitted fungal infection - ringworm - found in NYC marks 1st case in US

www.usatoday.com

17 comments

That is really not a place you want anything medical called "ringworm" even if it isn't actually a worm.
- They really need to rename it. Pretty sure most people assume it's a parasitic infection.
  
  I work in microbiology and only recently learned it's actually a fungus.
  Disclaimer: I'm sure I've learned about it in the parasitology classes I've had but that was 15 years ago and since then I've been in bacteriology and sequencing.
  
  It got that name because the welts look like a worm in a circle under the skin. It looks like a raised red ring about 2-3cm in diameter that is usually pretty painful and itchy.
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?
Cockringworm
- slow clap
Don't do BJJ ancient Greek style, got it.
- Ancient Greek style is fine. If you use enough olive oil, the fungus just slides right off.
There’s a new fungus among us?
Was Fernando Tatis Jr in NYC recently?
Hearsay has it it's been found in the Southeastern seaboard as well.

17 comments