The World Health Organization is recruiting the public’s help in workshopping new names for the monkeypox virus.
Dozens of self-identified scientists, academics, and activists have already submitted suggestions such as Mpox, TRUMP-22, and POXI-22 for the new name.
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“Mpox is a name that was generated by an alliance of Canadian LGBT+ community organizations that work directly with the impacted population, men who have sex with men,” Samuel Miriello, HR and partnerships director at REZO Sante, argued in his submission. “Mpox is, by far, the most understandable name, with the highest potential for growth.”
Other proposals are rooted in the scientific background of the monkeypox virus, with some suggesting that “pox” be kept in the name as an indicator of the Orthopoxvirus genus, of which monkeypox is a member.
WHO said in June that it would rename the virus, as the current name does not adhere to WHO guidelines that discourage using geographic regions or animals. The monkeypox virus was first named in 1958 at a time when names were typically related to the regions where the diseases were known to circulate.
A group of scientists have publicly aired their concerns about the name to WHO, arguing that “continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatizing.”
Two variants of the monkeypox virus have already been renamed from the Congo Basin clade and West African clade to Clade I and Clade II, respectively.
“Current best practice is that newly-identified viruses, related disease, and virus variants should be given names with the aim 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,” WHO said.
WHO has yet to announce a timeline for when a new name will be selected, frustrating some public health officials. Ashwin Vasan, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, urged WHO to “immediately” take action last month, arguing that prolonging the use of the name monkeypox could reignite “traumatic feelings of racism and stigma.”
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Monkeypox, a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected animal or person, primarily occurs in central and west Africa, though the current outbreak has infected individuals in dozens of other countries, including the United States, France, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
