Public health experts have worried that stigma could steer people away from getting tested and vaccinated. A new name can help slow the spread of the disease, they say, but it needs to come quickly.
But that was months ago.
Scientists have been calling this virus “monkeypox” for 64 years.
The global push for the name change started this year, when an outbreak took off in countries where monkeypox was not commonly found.
New names for old viruses
The naming process had already been underway to reconsider the names of all orthopoxvirus species, WHO said in an email to CNN, including cowpox, horsepox, camelpox, raccoonpox and skunkpox, as well as monkeypox.
According to WHO taxonomy committee member Colin McInnes, the panel has a mandate to bring “virus species nomenclature into line with the way that most other forms of life are named.”
Traditionally, poxviruses were named after the animal in which the disease was first spotted, but that created some inconsistencies, he said.
The current species known as “monkeypox virus” and the others would then be renamed to “orthopoxvirus ‘something,’ ” he said in an email to CNN.
“It is the ‘something’ that is currently being debated,” McInnes wrote.
He said some scientists would prefer that the monkeypox name be kept in order to retain the link to 50 years of published research. Others would like a totally different name.
The WHO committee has until June 2023 to suggest changes.
Now, to remove any stigma that comes with naming a disease for a region or country, the Congo Basin clade will be called clade I. The former West African clade is clade II. A subvariant, clade IIb, is what is primarily in circulation in the current outbreak.
Dangerous stigma
Many scientists say WHO needs to work with more urgency.
Since the outbreak has largely affected gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men, stigma has been an ongoing concern for WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Experts are concerned that in addition to the barriers that make access to any kind of health care difficult, some people may not get the vaccine or get tested because of the stigma associated with the disease.
Dozens of suggestions
Some — like lopox, ovidpox, mixypox and roxypox — had no explanation.
A handful — like rodentpox, bonopox and alaskapox — may have been facetious.
Johanna Vogl, who submitted “greypox,” wrote that the name “refers to a phenotypic mark of the disease, greyish blisters and is not associated with human skin color nor a location, group or animal.”
“While the monkeypox virus causing the current outbreak is not a novel pathogen, I propose that due to its designation as a public health emergency of international concern, renaming it is warranted,” Faust wrote in his proposal. He added that although this particular lineage of the virus seems to have originated before 2022, using this year may “limit confusion.”
Opoxid-22 reflects what’s known about the virus while removing “monkey” from the name.
Faust said he was bothered by the inaccuracy of the monkeypox name and the stigma it conveyed. But he said he submitted the name when he was waiting for some other work to finish.
“Honestly, I was just procrastinating,” Faust said.
He said that if WHO picked his name, it could help more people seek treatment, testing and care.
“This is important,” Faust said. “The right name should sound dry, technical, boring, so people aren’t afraid to say that they have that problem, right?”
His proposal argues that given the uncertainty over where the virus originated, a more general name derived from a zoonosis — meaning a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans — would eliminate the word “monkey” and be more inclusive.
Adding “22” would reflect the year in which scientists learned about this “outbreak with unusual and worrisome human-to-human transmission,” the proposal says.
Hassad said he was motivated to submit names because the word “monkey” can carry a lot of negative connotations.
“It has been used in racial and racist slurs against certain groups. I think it will be disingenuous not to recognize the damage that that word has done,” he said. “It is also scientifically incorrect. It’s a misnomer. If we want to be scientific, we have to be correct.”
‘A day late and a dollar short’
Some US health departments aren’t waiting for WHO, but the change is inconsistent.
Daniel Driffin, an HIV patient advocate and a consultant with NMAC, a national organization that works for health equity and racial justice to end the HIV epidemic, said he hopes the name will change. At the same time, he is disappointed that it wasn’t until this outbreak, when people outside of Africa were widely affected, that the pushing for the change started.
“It’s a name steeped in racism. It’s a day late and a dollar short. But I support the change and think it will help,” Driffin said. “Think about the populations who will continue to be impacted disproportionately with this disease. It’s been Black and brown folks, so if we can strip racist oppressive tendencies from the nomenclature, I think we have to do that.”