WHO, in renaming monkeypox to mpox, points to bias, racism
LONDON — The World Health Organization has renamed monkeypox as mpox, citing concerns the original name of the decades-old animal disease could be construed as discriminatory and racist.
The U.N. health agency said in a statement Monday that mpox was its new preferred name for monkeypox, saying that both monkeypox and mpox would be used for the next year while the old name is phased out.
WHO said it was concerned by the “racist and stigmatizing language” that arose after monkeypox spread to more than 100 countries. It said numerous individuals and countries asked the organization “to propose a way forward to change the name.”
In August, WHO began consulting experts about renaming the disease, shortly after the U.N. agency declared monkeypox’s spread to be a global emergency.
To date, there have been more than 80,000 cases identified in dozens of countries that had not previously reported the smallpox-related disease. Until May, monkeypox, a disease that is thought to originate in animals, was not known to trigger large outbreaks beyond central and west Africa.
Outside of Africa, nearly all cases have been in gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men.
Scientists believe monkeypox triggered outbreaks in Western countries after spreading via sex at two raves in Belgium and Spain. Vaccination efforts in rich countries, along with targeted control interventions, have mostly brought the disease under control after it peaked in the summer.
In Africa, the disease mainly affects people in contact with infected animals such as rodents and squirrels. The majority of monkeypox-related deaths have been in Africa, where there have been almost no vaccines available.
U.S. health officials have warned it may be impossible to eliminate the disease there, warning it could be a continuing threat mainly for gay and bisexual men for years to come.
Mpox was first named monkeypox in 1958 when research monkeys in Denmark were observed to have a “pox-like” disease, although they are not thought to be the disease’s animal reservoir.
No Trump in Georgia:
Donald Trump will not cross the Florida state line to campaign with Herschel Walker during the final week of the Georgia Senate runoff election, after both camps decided the former president’s appearance carried more political risks than rewards, officials for the two Republicans said Monday.
Instead of holding one of his signature campaign rallies, Trump is planning a call with supporters in the state and will continue sending online fundraising pleas for Walker, two people with knowledge of the planning said.
The decision to keep Trump out of the spotlight was a response largely to the former president’s political style and image, which can energize his core supporters but also motivate Democratic voters and turn off significant segments of moderate Republicans.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, the incumbent, finished with less than 50% of the vote, forcing a runoff Dec. 6 under Georgia law.
Houston water: More than 2 million people in the Houston area were urged to boil their tap water Monday after a power outage at a purification plant prompted the mayor to initiate a review of what went wrong.
The boil order notice tells customers in the nation’s fourth-largest city to boil water before it’s used for cooking, bathing or drinking. Multiple Houston-area public and private schools, as well as some local colleges, were closed Monday as a result of the notice, while others made adjustments to provide affected campuses with bottled water and sanitizer.
Houston Independent School District officials said in a Monday afternoon statement that closures would continue through Tuesday due to “the logistical challenges caused by the notice.”
“Those challenges prevent the district from being able to provide meals for its students and ensure safe water is available for students and staff,” Houston
ISD officials said in a statement.
The notice was issued Sunday, hours after two transformers failed, causing power outages at the water plant, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a news conference Monday.
There was no indication the water system had been contaminated. Water quality testing was underway.
Hawaii volcano: Waves of orange, glowing lava and smoky ash erupted Monday from the world’s largest active volcano, and people living on Hawaii’s Big Island were warned to be ready should debris threaten communities.
The eruption of Mauna Loa wasn’t immediately endangering any towns, but officials told residents to be ready for the worse.
Many now living in the area weren’t around when Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago.
The U.S. Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big
Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly.”
Somali hotel: Somali forces on Monday stormed a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, where Islamic extremists had been holed up for more than 18 hours after killing eight civilians and trapping dozens in the building, officials said.
Police spokesperson Sadik Dodishe said all six extremists died during the operation at the Villa Rosa hotel, and one member of the security forces was also killed.
Dodishe said about 60 people who had been trapped in the hotel were freed, and none of them were injured.
It was not immediately clear whether others were missing.
According to Dodishe, five of the attackers were killed by security forces, and one blew himself up.
Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.
Word of the year: “Gaslighting” — behavior that’s mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful — is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year.
Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before.
“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large.
Merriam-Webster’s top definition for gaslighting is the psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”