Monkey pox will now be called 'mpox', WHO announces

After “long debates”, the WHO took the decision to change the name of monkey pox (monkeypox in English).

The disease will now be called "mpox", including in other languages, the World Health Organization announced on Monday.

Both terms will remain in use for a one-year transition period until the name monkeypox is dropped.

“This serves to alleviate concerns raised by experts about confusion caused by a name change in the midst of a global outbreak,” the organization points out.

However, the old name can still be searched for in the international classification of diseases, said the WHO, which has the authority to name new diseases and, very exceptionally, to change the name of existing diseases.

“The issue of using the new name in different languages ​​was discussed at length.

The preferred term mpox may be used in other languages,” WHO points out.

If this name were to pose a problem in a language, the WHO would initiate consultations with the competent government authorities and the scientific societies concerned, before deciding.

Read alsoWhy is monkeypox still called monkeypox?

When the outbreak of monkeypox cases emerged from spring 2022 "racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO", prompting some number of countries and individuals or organizations to request a name change, recalls the organization.

The city of New York had thus asked to rename the name of the disease.

More than 80,000 cases detected worldwide

Monkeypox gets its name from the fact that the virus was originally identified in monkeys for research in Denmark in 1958, but the disease is most commonly found in rodents.

It was first reported in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The spread in humans was until the spring limited to certain West African countries where it is endemic.

But in May, cases of monkeypox, which causes fever, muscle aches and skin lesions, began to appear rapidly around the world, mostly among men who have sex with men.

Some 81,107 cases and 55 deaths have been reported to WHO this year, from 110 countries.