The World Health Organization has said it will rename the monkeypox to avoid discrimination and stigma, as the virus continues to spread among people in an unprecedented global outbreak.
Dr Tedros Adanom Gebrejesus, WHO’s director-general, said the organization was “working with partners and experts from around the world to change the name of the monkeypox virus, its variants and the disease it causes”.
The move comes after researchers called for an “urgent” name change, which they described as “inaccurate”, “discriminatory” and “stigmatizing” in a report published last week. The announcement of the new name will be made “as soon as possible,” Tedros said.
Similar concerns were raised in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, when new variants of Covid were named after the countries or regions where they were first discovered, leading to travel bans and other restrictions. In response, the WHO has introduced a naming system that identifies new variants as letters from the Greek alphabet.
In the report, scientists are concerned that the “prevailing perception” in the media and scientific literature is that the monkeypox virus is endemic to humans in some African countries, while the virus is found mainly in animals that have historically caused outbreaks when infecting humans. .
Scientists warn of “a growing media story and among many scholars trying to link the current global epidemic to Africa or West Africa or Nigeria.” While the UK’s Health Security Agency first raised the alarm after a monkey man arrived in London from Nigeria on 4 May, the virus has been spreading for some time, mostly among men who have sex with men.
The WHO currently refers to two species of monkeypox, namely “West African” and “Congo Basin” (Central Africa). This year’s outbreak is caused by the first type, which is significantly less dangerous than the second.
“In the context of the current global epidemic, the continuing mention and nomenclature of this virus as African is not only inaccurate, but also discriminatory and stigmatizing,” the experts wrote. They continue to criticize the use of photographs of African patients with measles lesions in the outbreak in the global north.
In the report, the researchers used the name “hMPXV” for the human monkeypox virus as a substitute to distinguish the virus that is causing the current international epidemic in humans from the virus most common in animals.
On Wednesday, WHO Director-General for Europe Dr Hans Kluge said the scale of the outbreak was “a real risk”, saying in a media briefing: “The longer the virus circulates, the more it will expand and the stronger is the mainstay of the disease will fall into non-endemic countries. He called on “governments, health partners and civil society” to “act urgently” to “control this outbreak”.
At the same briefing, Steve Taylor, a member of the board of European Pride, said that LGBTQ + events should not be closed in the light of the outbreak, but instead used to spread public health messages about monkeypox. He said about 750 Pride events are to take place in Europe this summer.
“We have worked with the WHO in recent weeks to develop our messages and we will encourage Pride organizations across Europe to use their events to raise awareness of the monkeypox facts so that people can protect themselves,” he said. “Unfortunately, but quite predictably, some of those who oppose Pride and those who oppose equality and human rights are already trying to use monkeypox as an excuse for calls to ban Pride.
“We are pleased that the WHO guidelines are clear that Pride and major events should not be affected and are in fact opportunities to share important public health messages,” he added.
UKHSA announced another 52 cases of monkeypox in England on Wednesday, another in Scotland and another in Wales, bringing the total to 524 in the UK as of 14 June. More than 1,800 cases of monkeypox have already been confirmed in dozens of countries outside Africa in the latest outbreak.
UKHSA urges people to contact a sexual health clinic if they develop a blistering rash and have been in close contact, including sexual contact, with someone who has or may have had monkeypox in the past three weeks, or has been in the West or Central Africa in the last three weeks.
The WHO will convene an emergency meeting of monkeypox experts next week to advise on whether the current epidemic is a public health emergency of international importance, meaning it requires a coordinated response.
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