The World Health Organization will change the name of the increasingly widespread monkeypox virus after a group of scientists claimed the name could be “stigmatizing.”
“WHO is also working with partners and experts around the world to rename the monkeypox virus,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“We will be announcing the new names as soon as possible.”
The abandonment of the monkeypox tag follows a letter from a group of 30 international scientists who wrote last week the “urgent need” to change the name.
“Given the ever-increasing communication and attention to the international outbreak of human MPXV, it is important to consider an appropriate, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing nomenclature and classification of the MPXV clades,” part of the letter states.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared that the organization is working with other countries on the name change.EPA / Salvatore Di Nolfi
Viral clades are defined as other groups of organisms with the same genetic structure.
“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 most obvious manifestation of this is the use of patient photos. to represent smallpox injuries in the mainstream media of 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 “.
Scientists propose “a new classification of MPXV that is non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing and aligned with best practices in the designation of infectious diseases in a way that minimizes unnecessary negative impacts on nations, geographic regions, economies and people and that take into account the evolution of the virus and the spread of the virus “.
The World Health Organization will make an announcement about the possible names of the monkey’s smallpox. Centers for Disease Control
A WHO spokesman told Bloomberg News that naming diseases “should be done with the aim of minimizing the negative impact and avoiding offending any cultural, social, national, regional, professional group.” or ethnic. ”
The WHO will consult with experts on orthopoxvirus, which includes monkeypox, to get more appropriate names, the spokesman said, according to Bloomberg.
There are 71 cases in 18 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York and California have more cases with 15 each.
Tedros, during the press conference, described the virus outbreak as “clearly unusual and worrying”. The WHO is convening an emergency committee to determine whether the virus should be treated as a public health emergency of the highest level of international concern. “
There are 1,600 confirmed cases and another 1,500 suspected cases worldwide so far this year that have been found in 39 countries. The virus has killed 72 people worldwide.
Symptoms of the disease include flu-like illness and rashes, and the disease spreads through close contact.