LONDON — The World Health Organization has renamed monkeypox smallpox, citing concerns the decades-old animal disease’s original name could be interpreted as discriminatory and racist.
Smallpox is the new preferred name for monkeypox, the UN health agency said in a statement on Monday, noting that both monkeypox and smallpox will be used next year while the old name is phased out.
The World Health Organization said it was concerned about the “racist language and stigma” that emerged after monkeypox spread to more than 100 countries. She said many individuals and countries have asked the organization to “suggest a way forward for the name change”.
Read more: What does it really feel like to have monkeypox
In August, the World Health Organization began consulting experts on renaming the disease, shortly after the United Nations agency declared the monkeypox outbreak a global emergency.
To date, more than 80,000 cases have been identified in dozens of countries that have not previously reported the disease associated with smallpox. Until May, monkeypox, a disease thought to have originated in animals, was not known to cause large-scale outbreaks outside central and western Africa.
Outside of Africa, nearly all cases have been of gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men. Scientists believe that monkeypox caused outbreaks in Western countries after spreading it through sex in raves in Belgium and Spain. vaccination efforts In rich countries, combined with targeted control interventions, has mostly succeeded in controlling the disease after it peaked in the summer.
In Africa, the disease mainly affects people who come into contact with infected animals such as ferrets and squirrels. The majority of monkeypox-related deaths have occurred in Africa, where there are almost no vaccines available.
US health officials have warned that it may be impossible to eradicate the disease there, warning that it could be a continuing threat primarily to gay and bisexual men for years to come.
Read more: How does monkeypox virus spread and not spread?
Mpox was first named monkeypox in 1958 when research monkeys in Denmark were observed to have a “smallpox-like” disease, although they are not thought to be the animal reservoir of the disease.
Although the World Health Organization has named several new diseases soon after they emerged, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS and COVID-19, this appears to be the first time the agency has attempted to rename a disease after Decades from naming it for the first time.
Many other diseases, including Japanese encephalitis, German measles, Marburg virus, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, are named after geographic areas, which can now be considered harmful. The World Health Organization has not suggested changing any of these names.
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