Speaking to the press on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the agency was working with partners and experts from around the world on new names for the “monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes “.
He said the WHO would make announcements about the new names as soon as possible.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO
Ghebreyesus did not delve into the decision to change the names, but the move comes a week after a group of 30 international scientists came together to write an article that ruled out the “urgent need for a new non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing name.” for the virus. .
“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,” the article says.
“The most obvious manifestation of this is the use of photos of African patients to represent smallpox injuries in the mainstream media in the global north.
“Recently, the Foreign Press Association, Africa, issued a statement urging the world media to stop using images of African people to highlight the outbreak in Europe.
The primary inoculation lesion for monkeypox infection. (Supplied)
“We propose a new classification of MPXV that is non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing and in line with best practices in the designation of infectious diseases so as to minimize unnecessary negative impacts on nations, geographic regions, economies and people and to take into account the ‘evolution and spread of the virus’.
The article was written by scientists around the world, including Nigeria, Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Portugal.
The WHO must decide whether the virus is a public health emergency
The recent rise in virus cases has led the WHO to decide to convene an emergency committee meeting next week, Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.
“The global outbreak of monkeypox is clearly unusual and worrisome,” he said.
The committee will determine if the virus is a public health emergency of international concern.
There have been 1,600 confirmed cases of monkeypox virus in 39 countries reported to the WHO this year, as well as 1,500 suspected cases.
The virus has been detected in 39 countries, 32 of which were previously unknown.
There have been 72 known deaths in people with monkeypox in the seven countries previously affected.
Ghebreyesus said the WHO did not recommend maximum vaccination against the virus.
Five cases of monkeypox have been found in Australia in 2022 in people who have traveled abroad.
There had been no known cases in Australia before.