Antibiotics could be given to entire year groups to help curb spread of Strep A

  • A Government minister has said that antibiotics could be given to entire year groups as a prevention measure to help limit the spread of Strep A in schools.
  • This follows as the number of primary-school-aged children to die from the bacterial infection has risen to nine.
  • This would see penicillin, or an alternative antibiotic, given to all children in a year group that had a single case of the infection, even if they did not have any symptoms.
  • Schools minister Nick Gibb confirmed this morning that the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) is “working closely with the schools involved and giving very specific advice to those schools which may involve the use of penicillin.”
  • For more on this story, please visit the Telegraph’s website.

Meta expanding AI face scanning to verify users’ age on Facebook Dating

  • Facebook have announced in a blog post that it would start prompting users on Facebook Dating to verify that they’re over 18.
  • This will specifically occur if the platform suspects a user is underage.
  • Users can confirm their age by submitting a copy of their ID or by uploading a selfie video, which Facebook would share with age verification company, Yoti.
  • Meta have said that the new age verification systems will help stop children from accessing features meant for adults.
  • However, there does not appear to be any requirements for adults to verify their age on Facebook Dating.
  • For more on this story, please visit the Verge website.

‘They allow us to name something we know is wrong’: The new words defining sexual abuse

  • “Gaslighting”, “upskirting” and “love bombing” are increasingly being used to describe forms of abuse.
  • Gaslighting- the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, was named Merriam-Webster dictionary’s word of 2022, with a 1,740% increase in searches on their site this year.
  • On TikTok, #gaslighting has 1.9 billion views, and #lovebombing almost 250 million.
  • BBC 100 Women has spoken to three women who have been spreading the word about new expressions to describe sexual assault and harassment from the UK, to South America and the Middle East.
  • For more on this story, please visit the BBC News website.