New Delhi : The World Health Organisation, WHO has announced that they are planning to change the name of the now super spreader monkeypox. According to the organisation, this virus has infected more than 1600 people this year and 72 people have died from monkeypox in 39 countries.
At a press briefing, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the health body is working to change the “name of monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes.”
“WHO is also working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes. We will make an announcement about the new names as soon as possible,” Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday while announcing about the emergency meeting on the virus concern next week.
According to Fox News, this announcement by WHO came after more than 30 scientists urged them to change the name of the virus recently. Those scientists claimed that claimed monkeypox name is “stigmatizing and discriminatory” and there’s an “urgent” need to change the name.
“The prevailing perception in the international media and scientific literature is that MPXV is endemic in people in some African countries. However, it is well established that nearly all MPXV outbreaks in Africa prior to the 2022 outbreak, have been the result of spillover from animals to humans and only rarely have there been reports of sustained human-to-human transmissions, “Fox News quoted the scientists.
Meanwhile, the Monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa but there have been more cases both in those countries and the rest of the world in recent months. The virus causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions and spreads through close contact.
According to WHO, it is thought to be fatal in around 3-6% of cases, although no deaths have yet been reported in the outbreak outside Africa. The majority of deaths this year have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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