The current name is discriminatory and stigmatizing, thirty scientists wrote in a letter last week. They argued that although outbreaks have occurred mainly in West and Central Africa since the 1970s, the recent global outbreak has no clear link to the African continent and that the name now refers to it.
The researchers, who call the virus by its scientific name MPXV, complain about the prevailing image in the media and scientific literature: that the virus is constantly circulating in some African countries and where the number of infections is relatively constant – also called endemic. That image is wrong.
“It is well established that almost all outbreaks in Africa have resulted from animal-to-human contamination and there have been rare reports of continued human-to-human transmission.”
No clear link with Africa
The current global outbreak has no clear connection to Africa and the virus is now spreading from person to person. Speaking about the monkey pox virus is a constant reference to the virus as African, which is both inaccurate and discriminatory, they believe.
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They see proof of this in the use of photos in the media that mainly depict African patients.
In their letter, the researchers suggest an alternative name for the virus that is currently circulating, although it does not roll easily either: hMPXV A.1. The International Commission on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is working on new names for viruses.
The World Health Organization says it is working with experts to come up with a new name for monkeypox, reports the BBC.
Highest alarm stage
The World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting next week to determine whether the monkeypox virus outbreak should be classified as an emergency, the highest alert stage. The only other diseases for which this has happened in the past are swine flu, polio, Ebola, Zika and Covid.
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