(News) – The World Health Organization plans to hold an emergency meeting next week on what Tedros CEO Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls the “unusual and worrying” outbreak of the monkey’s smallpox. The organization plans to study whether the outbreak should be declared a “public health emergency of international interest”, as was COVID-19, the BBC reports. The WHO says it is also working to find a new name for the virus and the disease it causes after scientists said a “non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing” name was urgently needed.
In a letter released last week, a group of scientists said the monkeypox name and references to an African origin violated WHO guidelines recommending not using geographical names or animal names, Bloomberg reports. “In the context of the current global outbreak, the continued reference and nomenclature of this African virus is not only inaccurate, but also discriminatory and stigmatizing,” they wrote. Scientists also noted that while most cases of the recent outbreak have been in Europe and North America, news organizations often use photos of African patients.
The WHO says it is consulting orthopoxvirus experts to find a more appropriate name. One name that has been suggested is hMPXV, reports the BBC. The disease was previously little known outside the African countries where it is endemic, but Tedros said more than 1,600 confirmed cases have been reported in 39 countries this year, along with nearly 1,500 suspected cases, the PA reports. The virus was named monkeypox because it was first detected in laboratory monkeys, but rodents are believed to be the main animal host. (Read more monkeypox stories.)