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Should You Be Worried About Tomato Flu?
Why the newest viral fear may not be quite as worrying as it first appeared
As the world heads into the grips of yet another Covid-19 wave, and we all yet again are forced to reckon with the dangers of pandemics in our interconnected globe, a new worrying disease has been making headlines. Dubbed “tomato flu” due to the appearance of tomato-like rashes, the illness has been seen in the large state of Kerala in India, and has hit the news after the august Lancet Respiratory Medicine printed an article describing an ongoing outbreak of this new condition in children.
This article caused a rash of pieces describing this “very contagious” new disease, which is apparently spreading rapidly in kids across the state. With our attention so focused on infectious diseases these days, the very idea of another one has gotten people across the world in something of a panic because we’re still grappling with Covid-19, monkeypox hasn’t quite been brought under control, and the world is just a little bit crap at the moment generally.
But while the idea of a new respiratory virus that’s targeting children seems very scary, there’s actually reason to believe that all this news is mostly just hot air.
