The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to prevent a repeat of what happened with COVID-19. If the coronavirus has caused a social and racial problem for people with Asian features by identifying them as “guilty” of the origin of the virus, they want to try to prevent a new strain of monkeypox from having the same effect. For this reason, the WHO has announced through its social media that it will change the name of monkeypox in the coming days.
“They want it to be non-stigmatizing and racist,” they note. In particular, that this should not be a direct attack on Africa, West Africa or Nigeria. And the fact is that this WHO decision was made just a few days after a group of 30 scientists sign the presented document organizations to urgently change the name of monkeypox precisely in order to avoid the racism hidden in the name. And to what consequences it can lead.
According to a group of scientists, the current monkeypox does not have a clear connection with strains that historically originated in regions of Africa or African peoples. “As of June 8, 2022, there were at least 1,111 confirmed or suspected cases of MPXV in humans, with cases identified in 44 countries. [7]. MPXV infection is usually caused by indirect human exposure to animals such as rodents, squirrels, and non-human primates. [1,4,5]. The virus can also be transmitted from one person to another through close contact with injuries, bodily fluids, airborne droplets and contaminated materials. [1,4]”, the report says.
They demand a “neutral, non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing nomenclature more appropriate to the global health community.” Or, equivalently, not linking monkeypox infections to blacks in Africa, because there is evidence of people of other races being infected.
The importance of hoards in monkeypox
In this sense, a group of scientists indicates the analysis of hoards or groups on which the analysis should be carried out. Research presented to date indicates 3 differentiated clades corresponding to West Africa, Central Africa and indirect events located in the countries of the global north and human and non-human hosts. Scientists point to the creation of a new clade containing monkeypox genomes in the UK, Israel, Nigeria, the US and Singapore between 2017 and 2019.
There are 1,650 cases of monkeypox worldwide, most of which are now in the northern hemisphere. United Kingdom with 471, 124 in Canada and 65 in the United States. In this regard, the organization of scientists also asked the media to stop using images of Africans to illustrate outbreaks in Europe or North America. While still far from becoming a pandemic, WHO will analyze all factors, including the origin of the strain, to determine the severity of the situation.
Source: Hiper Textual
