WHO tags viral illness as ‘mpox’

GENEVA: The World Health Organization has recommended that the monkeypox virus be renamed “mpox” to avoid what it called racist and stigmatising language surrounding the infection.

US public health agencies will use the new term in correspondence with the medical community and the public, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services that praised the decision. HHS has supported an “urgent process” to change the name, the statement said.

“We must do all we can to break down barriers to public health, and reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said.

Rodentpox-70, Human mediumpox, Bonopox and MOVID-22 were among more than 99 proposed names submitted for consideration to the Geneva-based agency. Mpox was chosen in part because it’s easy to pronounce and isn’t linked to any actual place or animal, the WHO said.

The WHO first said it planned to change the virus’s name in June amid concerns about stigma and racism as the outbreak was rapidly spreading around the globe. In August, the WHO updated how it would reference two strains of the virus that had previously been distinguished by locations in Africa.

But the process has been too slow for some experts and local health departments who have already unofficially renamed the virus. In Chicago and New York City, for example, health officials have for months been calling the virus “MPV.”

The WHO will initially use mpox alongside monkeypox to avoid confusion, and the old name will be phased out after a year.