The World Health Organization said on the 14th that it will officially rename the monkeypox virus and the disease it causes to prevent stigma and discrimination from existing names.
According to the US "Time" magazine, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on the same day that the organization is working with global experts and partners to change the name of the monkeypox virus, its clades and the diseases it causes, and the results will be announced as soon as possible. .
More than 30 scientists around the world said in an open letter last week that the continued use of the name monkeypox is inaccurate, stigmatizing and discriminatory given the current global outbreak, and that there is an "urgent need" to rename the virus.
They say the name monkeypox does not conform to current WHO guidelines for naming newly discovered infectious diseases.
In 2015, the WHO and other agencies proposed that when naming newly discovered infectious diseases, it advocated the use of neutral, general terms instead of names of people, places, animals, foods and occupations.
According to the BBC, the WHO is currently consulting orthopoxvirus experts to find a more appropriate name for monkeypox.
Although the virus is called monkeypox, its main host is actually rodents.
Monkeypox and smallpox belong to the genus Orthopoxvirus.
Since the first human case of monkeypox infection was detected in 1970, the virus has mainly circulated in parts of West or Central Africa, with confirmed cases in several non-endemic countries recently.
According to WHO data, seven monkeypox-endemic countries and 32 non-endemic countries have reported 1,600 confirmed cases of monkeypox this year, nearly 1,500 suspected cases, and 72 deaths.
The vast majority of confirmed cases are from Europe, and the deaths are from monkeypox-endemic countries.
Tedros said the outbreak of monkeypox around the world was unusual and worrisome.
According to the "International Health Regulations", the WHO Emergency Committee is scheduled to meet on the 23rd to assess whether the current monkeypox epidemic constitutes a "public health emergency of international concern".