WHO: Variants of Monkeypox Virus To Be Renamed
New names have been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for different variants of the monkeypox virus to make it less offensive.
Some global experts have recommended using Roman numerals for the new names.
Consequently, the former Congo Basin (Central African) clade will now be referred to as Clade one (I) while the former West African clade will now be known as Clade two (II). The latter Clade consists of two subclades.
In a statement on its website, the global health body stated that the development was part of the ongoing efforts to align the names of Monkeypox disease, variants, or clades with current best practices.
It further explained that the current best practice is that newly-identified viruses, related diseases, and virus variants should be given names to avoid causing any cultural or social offense, “Assigning new names to existing diseases is the responsibility of WHO under the International Classification of Diseases and the WHO Family of International Health Related Classifications (WHO-FIC).”
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WHO said the new names for the clades will take effect immediately while it is consulting the public for a new disease name for Monkeypox, “WHO is holding an open consultation for a new disease name for Monkeypox. Anyone wishing to propose new names can do so here.”
Read Also: FG Urged To Obtain Smallpox Vaccines To Fight Monkeypox
According to the world health body, the Monkeypox virus was first discovered in laboratory monkeys – hence the name – in a Copenhagen research facility in 1958.
Human Monkeypox was first identified 12 years later in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a nine-month-old boy in a region where smallpox had been eliminated in 1968.
Since 1970, human cases of Monkeypox have been reported in 11 African countries: Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan.
The first Monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa occurred in 2003 and was in the United States of America and had been linked to contact with infected pet prairie dogs.
Multiple cases of Monkeypox were identified in several non-endemic countries in May 2022.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 31,799 monkeypox cases have been reported across 89 countries as of the 12th of August, 2022.
