Babies Catching Deadly Mpox in DRC’s Overcrowded Hospitals as Cases Soar
www.savethechildren.org.uk
Newborn babies as young as two weeks old are catching the deadly mpox virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s overcrowded hospitals.
  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
    26·
    3 months ago

    All I’ve been hearing is “intimate skin to skin contact” but I knew that was bullshit when so many parents started talkinf about children contracting the disease. I wonder how long it’ll take the world to catch up with the facts on the ground.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
      21·
      3 months ago

      The scary part is that most people are likely just going to ignore it because everyone is aready sick of dealing with covid. Good news is that it looks like it’s much easier to vaccinate against.

    • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
      19·
      3 months ago

      They really wanted mpox to be the next ‘oh only the gays get this so we don’t have to worry’ disease from how they covered it the last time

    • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
      12·
      3 months ago

      Children are touching each other (non sexually) and getting saliva everywhere before touching their eyes, sucking their fingers, and touching others. Not to mention fecal mater and urine if they’re not washing their hands.

      Children are little grimy gremlins.

      “Intimate contact” is usually said since that has an extremely high chance of spreading the disease due to the proximity of participants and swapping of bodily fluids.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        5·
        3 months ago

        It still has to get passed to a child somehow before the children can pass it to each other. There’s at least some primary infection going from adults to children. Also notable, parents don’t even know where they’re picking up their infections - that implies infection from either surfaces or air.

      • SadArtemis🏳️‍⚧️@lemmygrad.ml
        3·
        3 months ago

        Apparently pets can spread the disease, as well. And the truth is that no (or almost no) adults are that “clean and pristine” anyways, we’re grimy creatures despite how much we may try to dissociate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom.

        And that’s without getting into how horrible the basic hygiene of many people is. All humans piss, shit, eat, sometimes get food on their hands or intentionally and purposefully eat with them, most people dig their nose, or rub their face, or touch their eyes, or scratch their ass, etc. Anyone who says they never do any of the above is a liar; maybe they’re more hygienic about it as is sensible and wash their hands after, but it’s a fact of life.

    • WayeeCool [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      33·
      3 months ago

      Up side is central African countries are extremely good at containing outbreaks once identified. It’s the reason most of those countries handled COVID better than any European or American countries. Outbreaks of hemorrhagic fevers like ebola (horrific way to die, traumatic to witness) have a way of causing the type of mass psychological trauma that teaches entire generations to take shit seriously.

      • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
        27·
        3 months ago

        Also because of the sheer amount of doctors and researchers in the region tracking the disease and immediately isolating anyone infected.

        One of the few good things about the UN. Their epidemiology teams and field clinics are invaluable and save the lives of hundreds of thousands a year. Genuinely good people risking their lives to better humanity.

        • cayde6ml@lemmygrad.ml
          12·
          3 months ago

          The United Nations is a good model, it’s just bogged down by capitalism. I think a future socialist equivalent of the United Nations would be awesome.