Why WHO Has Renamed Monkeypox

Since the start of the current outbreak, scientists have pushed for a name change to minimize stigma and discrimination that can discourage people from getting tested or immunized.

WHO announced that specialists from advisory committees for classification, statistics, and medicine were involved in the consultation process. The advisory committees were made up of delegates from 45 different governments.

In August, the WHO urged individuals to use their website to offer new titles for the monkeypox.

“The issue of the use of the new name in different languages was extensively discussed. The preferred term mpox can be used in other languages,” WHO said.

The name monkeypox, according to the organization, will still be searchable in the International Classification of Diseases.

This is done so that historical data may be accessed and that publications can be updated during the year that both names will be in use.

“Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while ‘monkeypox’ is phased out,” WHO said.

US President Joe Biden stated that the US will adopt the new nomenclature "mpox" going forward and that they appreciate the change.

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of the disease has disproportionately afflicted Black and Hispanic persons.

“We must do all we can to break down barriers to public health, and reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement

Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the commissioner of health for New York, recently requested in a letter to WHO that it quickly adopt a new name.

"There is growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatising effects that the messaging around the ‘monkeypox’ virus can have on these already vulnerable communities,” Vasan said.

WHO says that the risk of the disease remains moderate globally. So far, the most current outbreak of mpox has been linked to more than 81,000 cases.

According to the WHO, the disease's cause was a virus found in caged monkeys. It was then identified and given the name monkeypox in 1970.

The name monkeypox had been much earlier before WHO released best guidelines for disease naming in 2015.

Monkeypox may not have originated in monkeys although its origin is still uncertain. Other species of animals are also susceptible to the virus.