A rare and neglected flesh-eating disease finally gets some attention

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/12/20/ [login to see] /rare-and-neglected-flesh-eating-disease-noma-finally-gets-who-attention
It started out as malaria – or at least that's what her grandparents thought. But there was another devious infection lurking beneath the surface of her skin and inside her mouth.

Mulikat Okanlawon was a child, only 6 or 7 years old, when she contracted noma – a rare gangrenous infection that ate away at the flesh and bone in her face.

Compared to others who get noma, Mulikat was lucky. It almost always leads to death.

Those who survive are left with substantial facial disfiguration that requires repeated reconstructive plastic surgery to repair. That's why some global health workers call noma the "face of poverty."