The World Health Organization says it is holding an open forum to rename the monkeypox disease after some critics raised concerns the name could be derogatory or have racist overtones. In a statement on Friday, the UN health agency said it had also renamed two families, or clades, of the virus, using Latin numbers instead of geographic regions, to avoid stigmatization. The version of the disease formerly known as the Congo Basin will now be known as Clade one or I and the West African clade will be known as Clade two or II. The WHO said the decision was made after a meeting of scientists this week and in line with current best practices for naming diseases, which aim to “avoid causing offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, occupational or ethnic group and to minimize any negative impact on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare’. Many other diseases, such as Japanese encephalitis, Marburg virus, Spanish flu, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, have been named after the geographic areas where they first appeared or were identified. The WHO has not publicly proposed changing any of these names. Monkeypox was first named in 1958 when monkey researchers in Denmark were observed to be suffering from a smallpox-like disease, although it was not believed to be the animal reservoir. The WHO said it is also opening a way for the public to suggest new names for monkeypox, but did not say when a new name would be announced. To date, more than 31,000 monkeypox cases have been identified worldwide since May, most of them outside of Africa. Monkeypox has been endemic in parts of central and western Africa for decades and was known to have sparked large outbreaks across the continent as recently as May. The WHO declared the global spread of monkeypox an international emergency in July, and the US declared its own outbreak a national emergency earlier this month. Outside of Africa, 98% of cases involve men having sex with men. With only a limited global supply of vaccines, authorities are scrambling to stop monkeypox before it becomes established as a new disease.
