After a meeting with scientists last week, the World Health Organization has decided to hold an open forum with the purpose of renaming the disease monkeypox.
The concerns were raised by critics who say the name could be derogatory or hold racial connotations to certain demographics, a press release said. Now, the health agency will look to rename the disease that has had more than 31,000 cases globally since May.
The WHO said that the decision is in line with its best practices when it comes to naming diseases.
Most recently, the WHO came forward to name different coronavirus strains after different variants being named after the place they were first discovered started to cause harm. The virus strains were instead named after different letters of the Greek alphabet.
The WHO said it aims to “avoid causing offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups, and minimize any negative impact on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare.”
Several other diseases that carry geographic names include Japanese encephalitis, Marburg virus, Spanish influenza, and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome; however, the WHO has not publicly recommended changing those names.
Still, efforts to rename the disease continue. The U.N. health agency shared on Friday that it is renaming two families of the virus, using Roman numerals to avoid stigmatization. Now, Congo Basin, a version of the virus, will be known as Clade one or I, and the West Africa clade will be known as Clade two or II.
The public will be able to submit new name ideas for Monkeypox, the WHO announced. The original name came 64 years ago after researchers first observed a “pox-like” disease on Monkeys in Denmark.
There is no set date on when the new name for the virus will be announced.
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