Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

Monkeypox Is Getting a New Name, WHO Announces

Monkeypox Is Getting a New Name, WHO Announces

An emerging disease is set to get a new coat of paint. Officials at the World Health Organization announced this week that they will soon choose a different name for the disease known as monkeypox—one intended to avoid the stigmatization and inaccuracy of its current moniker. The name of the virus behind the disease, also called monkeypox, may change as well, but that decision will have to formally be made by a separate group.
Last week, a group of international scientists published a lengthy paper on the open-access site Virological asking for the change. They argued that monkeypox is an ill-fitting name for the virus and disease, especially in light of its recent global outbreaks that began to be noticed this year.

The virus was first discovered in monkeys in the 1950s, and by the 1970s, it became apparent that it could infect and sicken humans occasionally as well. But the virus’s natural hosts are actually thought to be rodents. And up until recently, human outbreaks have been limited to certain parts of Africa and fueled largely by animal-to-human transmission. This year, however, the virus has infected at least hundreds of people in over two dozen countries and there is clear evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission. And the genetic signature of the virus found in these newer outbreaks suggests that it’s been circulating outside Africa for longer than we knew.

Public health experts are still hoping that the virus can be contained before it establishes itself in new parts of the world. But the scientists behind the Virological paper say that the version of monkeypox now spreading globally should no longer be considered or implied to be an “African” disease, such as through media images that only depict its rashy symptoms on African residents. Thus, they’ve called for a name and future labeling that is “neutral, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing.”

Currently, for instance, there are two known evolutionary branches of the virus, also known as clades. These groups have been called the “Congo” and “West African” clades, after where they were first identified (the current global outbreaks are caused by “West African” strains). The scientists proposed that the clades should be renamed to clades 1, 2, and 3, with 2 and 3 representing what used to be known as the “West African” clade. As a placeholder label for the virus that’s traveling around the globe, they offered “human monkeypox”, or hMPXV.

At the time of the paper, the authors noted that they had been in contact with the WHO regarding a name change. And on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the WHO was working on a new name for the disease. Notably, the WHO has made it a formal policy since 2015 to avoid names for diseases that might have negative effects on geographical regions, people, or economical sectors, such as “Spanish flu”—the inaccurate nickname given to the influenza virus behind the 1918 pandemic (Spain was merely the first country to widely report cases and not where it originated).

The WHO’s new labeling of monkeypox will undoubtedly be followed by countries and public health organizations around the world. But importantly, the agency is not responsible for designating the formal scientific name of a virus—that’s up to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), which is helmed by virologists in the field. And the names chosen by the WHO and ICTV can often differ. Covid-19, for instance, is the name of the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, though the WHO and public health organizations will sometimes use the shorthand of calling it the covid-19 virus. The authors of the Virological paper say they’ve been in discussions with the ICTV as well, and the WHO and ICTV may very well announce their respective name changes at the same time, as they did with covid-19/SARS-CoV-2.

Whether the new name for monkeypox ends up being, we’re likely to keep hearing it a lot in the near future. Next week, the WHO is convening a meeting to decide whether the outbreaks this year should be designated a public health emergency of international concern—an alert that was last called for the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×