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Monkeypox getting renamed to end stigma

STEVE MCKINLEY STAFF REPORTER

Monkeypox will be getting a new name, following a global consultation with experts, in a move designed to avoid discrimination and stigma attached to the current one, says the World Health Organization.

The preferred name for the viral disease going forward will be “mpox,” the organization said in a statement Monday. Both names will be used interchangeably for the next year, until the former is phased out.

“Considerations for the recommendations included rationale, scientific appropriateness, extent of current usage, pronounceability, usability in different languages, absence of geographical or zoological references, and the ease of retrieval of historical scientific information,” said the organization.

A viral disease resembling smallpox, though less severe, monkeypox is transmitted by close contact with bodily fluids. Symptoms, which can include pustules similar to smallpox, chickenpox and measles, usually last two to four weeks. Its fatality rate in the current set of outbreaks has been about three to six per cent.

As several countries suffered outbreaks this year, WHO said it had been approached by individuals and countries asking it to stem the tide of racist language and behaviour online and off, linked to the name.

The disease was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, cases have been reported in 11 African countries. In the current outbreak, 81,000 cases have been identified in 110 countries across the globe as of Nov. 26.

It was given its name in 1970, after the virus that caused it was identified as one discovered in captured monkeys in 1958. That was before WHO adopted a best practices standard for naming diseases.

According to its current standard, “New disease names should be given with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative impact of names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare, and avoid causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.” While mpox will be the name of the virus and the disease it causes going forward, monkeypox will still be searchable in archives.

The renaming of disease is a relatively rare process.

NEWS

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2022-11-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

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