New Delhi: The World Health organisation (WHO) chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that WHO is currently working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus.
He said that the announcements about the new names will be made as soon as possible.
Why are WHO changing the name of monkeypox?
The decision to change the name of monkeypox comes after 0ver 30 scientists from Africa and around the world called for changing the name.
The group of scientist pointed out that the continuous use of photos of African patients to depict pox lesions in the mainstream media.
“WHO is also working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of #monkeypox virus, its clades and the disease it causes. We will make announcements about the new names as soon as possible”-@DrTedros
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) June 14, 2022
WHO has listed the monkeypox virus under two distinct strains:
- The Central African (Congo Basin) clade
- West African clade.
How will it be named?
Scientist have recently proposed a new way to name the viral outbreak under clades 1, 2, and 3, in order of detection.
The viral genomes are from Central African, Western Africa. According to them, they have proposed clade 1 to be of the Congo Basin clade, and clades 2 and 3 correspond to the prior “West African clade”.
