NEW CHAPTER

World Health Organization Renames Monkeypox Virus

The new name was chosen after racist and discriminatory language was reported to the WHO over its old moniker.

The World Health Organization has announced that the monkeypox virus will go by a new name in 2023: mpox. Both names will be used throughout the year until its old mononym is officially phased out, the organization said. The move has been years in the making, with U.S. officials calling on the organization to rebrand the illness as outbreaks reaching some 81,000 cases affected communities of Black and Hispanic gay and bisexual men, fearing its name stigmatized testing and treatment of the disease. “When the outbreak of monkeypox expanded earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO,” the organization said in a statement. “In several meetings, public and private, a number of individuals and countries raised concerns and asked WHO to propose a way forward to change the name.” Mpox was chosen for its “usability in different languages,” according to the WHO. The virus was originally dubbed monkeypox in 1970 after it was discovered in captive monkeys, though no actual origin of the disease has been uncovered. It has since been found in several other kinds of animals.