Monkeypox: What you need to know
A senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security says what people should do if they become infected with the virus in a special report.
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The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it would rename the monkeypox virus, which has infected more than 1,600 people in 39 countries this year, after a group of scientists expressed fears the name could be stigmatizing.
“The WHO is also working with partners and experts around the world to change the name of the monkeypox virus, its genera and the disease it causes,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adanom Gebreyesus told a news briefing on Tuesday. “We will announce the new names as soon as possible.”
The announcement comes after a group of more than 30 international scientists called on the health community to change the name of the virus last week.
“The prevailing view in the international media and scientific literature is that MPXV is endemic to people in some African countries. However, it is well established that almost all outbreaks of MPXV in Africa before the epidemic in 2022 were the result of human-to-human transmission and there have been rare reports of prolonged human-to-human transmission, the researchers wrote on June 10.
“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.
In this chart of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the symptoms of the monkeypox virus are shown on the patient’s arm. (CDC / Getty Images)
The WHO lists two known groups of monkeypox on its website, “one identified in West Africa (WA) and one in the Congo Basin region (CB).
The group of scientists writes that the use of this nomenclature is “contrary to best practice for avoiding geographical locations in the nomenclature of diseases and disease groups.”
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According to the CDC, scientists first discovered monkeypox during two outbreaks of a monkey-like disease at a research center in Denmark in 1958. The first human case was found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.
In this photo provided by the Unidad de Microscopía Electrónica del ISCIII in Madrid on Thursday, May 26, 2022, an electron microscope image shows the monkeypox virus. (Unidad de Microscopía Electrónica del ISCIII, via AP)
The largest outbreak is currently in the United Kingdom, where health officials have found 470 cases.
Human-to-human transmission of the virus occurs mainly through direct contact with infected people or contaminated surfaces.
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Gebreyesus also said the WHO would convene an emergency meeting next week to determine whether the spread of monkeypox should be considered a global public health emergency.
Healthcare worker prepares a syringe at a monkey measles vaccination clinic run by the CIUSSS public health authorities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 6, 2022 (REUTERS / Christine Muschi)
“The outbreak of monkeypox is unusual and alarming,” Gebreyesus said on Tuesday. “For this reason, I have decided to convene an emergency commission next week in accordance with international health regulations to assess whether this outbreak is a public health emergency of international importance.
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The CDC reports 65 cases of monkeypox in the United States, including 15 in California and 11 in New York.
Smallpox has similar symptoms to smallpox, but is milder. Infected individuals usually develop flu-like symptoms, followed by a rash that progresses to lesions.
The WHO has struggled in recent years with allegations that it failed to maintain China’s transparency as the COVID pandemic moved from Wuhan to the world, and then allegations that it skipped the Greek letter Xi when naming variants of the virus. to avoid insults to China’s communist leader, President Xi Jinping.
Paul Best is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Paul.best@fox.com and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.
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