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WHO to rename monkeypox to avoid discrimination and stigmatization - Fox News

WHO to rename monkeypox to avoid discrimination and stigmatization - Fox News

WHO to rename monkeypox to avoid discrimination and stigmatization - Fox News
Aug 13, 2022 1 min, 9 secs

WHO said the decision was made after meeting with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which helps identify best practices for naming new human diseases 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.".

The version of the disease formerly known as the Congo Basin will now be known as Clade one or I and the West Africa clade will be known as Clade two or II.

WHO said that the new names for the clades will take effect immediately while a new name for the disease and virus will be worked on.

The WHO reports that monkeypox cases in Africa are not concentrated amongst gay men, unlike other countries with outbreaks.

The decision comes after a group of scientists in June proposed an "urgent" name change, calling the current name "discriminatory and stigmatizing.".

The new name, they proposed, would minimize the "negative impacts on nations, geographic regions, economies and people and that considers the evolution and spread of the virus.".

The scientists proposed a neutral name that accounts for the evolution of the virus.

The Center of Disease Control notes that the source of monkeypox is unknown, despite the virus being named in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies where monkeys were kept for research. 

Summarized by 365NEWSX ROBOTS

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